Gio Reyna’s lack of playing time in Germany has reportedly led to one of MLS’ top clubs targeting his services.
LAFC are leading the race to acquire Reyna this summer, German outlet Ruhr Nachrichten reported Tuesday. Reyna just recently concluded his summer involvement with Borussia Dortmund at the FIFA Club World Cup.
The U.S. men’s national team midfielder scored two goals and registered one assist in 26 appearances for the Black and Yellow last season. Despite featuring in four different competitions, Reyna logged only 627 minutes of action.
Reyna has been reduced to less than 1,000 minutes of playing time in each of his last two club seasons. The 22-year-old is heading into the final year of his contract.
His decreasing club role has also led to limited USMNT opportunities for Reyna. Reyna has earned just one cap under Mauricio Pochettino since the Argentine’s hiring as head coach last summer.
LAFC sits sixth in the Western Conference and most recently lost a key attacking weapon in Olivier Giroud. Steve Cherundolo’s squad were eliminated from the Club World Cup in the group stage, losing two of their three matches.
“identity” keeps getting tossed around but i see no consistent goal with the lineup/roster direction. we now seem to want hustling two way mids and wings, but then wingbacks (and even CB) who can’t mark but can get forward.
do you not see where that is like contradictory? is our goal shutouts or scoring goals? if the idea is shutouts, you help out the hustling attackers with a better formation and/or you select some backs who can help finish the team defensive job. then it makes sense to have mids who can barely contribute to goals or forwards picked in part for willingness to chase.
conversely, if we are a swashbuckling team that takes risks in the back and picks some defenders more for their passing………why the heck would you grind that effort to a halt by having sloppy no assist no goal mids and forwards out there more to press? (a) someone has to score some goals and (b) if we think we need attacking aggression in the back why isn’t it attacking in the front too?
i mean, we seem more cavalier in front of our own net than on the scoring end. that’s absurd. make up your silly minds.
if this is about team defense fix the backline and maybe play a different formation. i will then allow you that if reyna or some other attacker doesn’t want to run, our goal is winning 1-0, and everyone has to run.
or. we are dedicated to the “jedi” risktaking version of the team, in which a nonscoring musah or sloppy mckennie is quaint, and picking an attacker based on pressing as opposed to goalscoring is stupid. we should then gather all our luna pepi balogun reyna pulisic weah campbell types we have, with dest and jedi overlapping up, and just fling them at opponents. and go for 3 goals. and if we ship one, so what.
this is in-between mush and that’s why we have reyna and ream arguments ad infinitum. to me they clearly fit one idea of the team, but not another, and we’re really lost in between where it suits no one at all.
this is set up to score 1 goal on a set piece and then ship 1 goal on a few easy passes since the backs can’t defend. this is not a winning recipe.
i look forward to a bunch of over-theoretical white board answers. what this team actually does is defend poorly and then cross a lot to no one. period.
Johnnyrazor,
I am shaking my head. Have a drink from the Berhalter carafe of Kool-Aid, why don’t you?
Who says Gio was not fit?…Berhalter??…Gio flat out denied that nonsense and said he was 100. Gregg always thinks he is the smartest guy in the room. I believe Gio.
You are also glossing over the fact that Jordan Morris was coming off his 2nd ACL injury, had put on more than the freshman 15, had no more explosiveness when he went to torque, and had lost his top speed. Then you mention that he was brought on for his aerial prowess??? I never knew Jordan to be so proficient in his ability to score with his melon. But guess what, I checked…and it is on record that he has scored 15 goals across his career with Seattle…in his 11 year career…lucky for me, I can do simple division, and that averages out to 1.36 goals per season by way of Morris’ melon…so it is true, you learn something new everyday…he is Brian McBride reincarnated…well I’ll be damed. Note sarcasm.
With respect to the current interest in Gio from transfer market, Parma just submitted an official bid. We are a month in to this current window, and we have a month and a half to go. That’s a long time. Something tells me that interest in Gio will continue to gain more traction as we move into August.
What is, or what was, the interest in Jordan Morris from the European transfer market?…Weder Bremen, which he ran from because he wanted to be comfortable in Seattle…and then a cup of coffee with Swansea?
Rant on Gio’s professionalism, or lack thereof, he has more talent in the small pinky toe of his off foot, than Morris has in his entire body. I get it, you want choir boys for your team. This is professional soccer, I want players that give the team the best chance to win. I will take Gio then, and now.
Jordan Morris played 2900 minutes that season and based on the ESPN report that I quoted Gio’s speed numbers from, Morris was faster than Gio. Even pre-injury Gio wasn’t known for getting behind defenses. Morris had also been put in this exact situation in the monsoon in El Salvador in the dying minutes and scored the on a back post header. You tell Gio that’s had three hamstring injuries in 15 months including one 6 weeks before to get game warm in five minutes. You’ve just lit the fuse to the bomb and you’re just praying that ref blows the whistle before the fuse runs out and his hammy explodes again.
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Berhalter was an extremely limited manager, his ideas were fine, but he couldn’t implement the ideas in his head on to the pitch. Again you’re sticking with the Gregg sucked so everyone else is excused. Professionals don’t act the way Gio did when they’re told they aren’t going to start. If they do they don’t last long where they are.
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You keep trying to make me out to be a Gio hater. I’ve said Gio should be in every camp he’s been available for, when a lot were calling him all sorts of names. The guys said you’re endangering our success with your behavior stop or we can’t play with you. He fixed it. It’s over. Doesn’t mean Earnie wants to hear from Claudio because Gus Til is starting this weekend against Go Ahead Eagles.
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That’s not Gio’s issue. His issue is he’s not running. Almost every team needs their #10 to defend now, to be at least active in the counter press. He’s not been doing that since his broken leg in ‘23, that’s when his running numbers went from slightly below average to worst in the league. Honestly, if plays for Tampa Bay Rowdies and runs I’d put him on the 23. But if goes to Parma and sits because he can’t run, how does he help the US? I don’t remember Gio being abnormally slow or stagnant last summer for the Nats, but he missed all fall with another leg muscle injury and wasn’t available in June. I want the Gio redemption arc, just not sure his legs are up for it.
Johnnyrazor,
I know you are a stat head and knee deep in speed data, but when did I say that Gio was faster than Jordan?…or that Berhalter should have subbed Gio on because he could get behind the Welsh defenders with his speed?
And your logic for subbing Jordan on vs Wales is the 90th minute goal he scored vs El Salvador??…you mean where the defender didn’t even jump? My grandma, if she tried to jump over my credit card would trip, and she would’ve done a better job contesting on that aerial duel than that miserable defender from ES. We are talking about a game vs Wales in a World Cup, right?…not a minnow from Central America in World Cup qualifying.
You’re giving Berhalter way too much credit…that he used logic in subbing Morris on instead of Gio, and you are using ES as your point of reference?? I’ll let you in on a little secret, Berhalter did not use logic. If so, and I’m using YOUR logic now, he would have taken Pepi to Qatar…you know, the guy who saved his job down in Honduras. Oh, and Pepi scored with a header on that game winning goal. Maybe he could have helped in the waning moments vs Wales. Oh, and for shits and giggels, I’d take Pepi over Morris vs Wales, also.
And if you give Morris, who suffered two ACL injuries, 5 minutes to warm up, that is not lighting a fuse and hoping the ref blows the whistle before Jordan makes a dynamic change of direction and suffers another knee injury??…interesting logic.
Berhalter is, and was, a clown. I’m sticking with the Berhalter sucks narrative, because he sucked. I never absolved Gio of his behavior, I simply said professional soccer is littered with characters that are immature, entitled, spoiled, and pain in the asses. If those same players can help you win, they play.
I NEVER said you were a Gio hater. Fact check…go back to my original reply to you on all of this…I said, “stop with the Earnie doesn’t want to deal with the Gio circus.” You don’t know that, so why are you spewing off and creating a false narrative? Frankly speaking, that is complete bullshit on your part, so I am calling you on it. To use YOUR own words, “He fixed it. It’s over.”…so why do you bring it back up??
Thank you for tactical lesson that all #10’s today need to run and defend…you don’t say??…I never knew that???
“His issue is he is not running.” Are we going in circles here??? You think he is not running because he is physically incapable or mentally broken. I’m confident it is a pissing contest with Dortmund. Tomayto, tomahto.
“But if he goes to Parma and sits because he can’t run, how does he help the US?” I’ve NEVER said Gio is entitled, or guaranteed, a spot on the USMNT. I have always advocated for each USMNT player to be playing and producing at the club level. That is a prerequisite to being called up to the USMNT. No matter where Gio moves to, Parma, or elsewhere, he needs to play and produce. If he doesn’t, then he won’t earn a callup. We are going to find out soon enough how this whole thing unfolds.
In the interim, stop with the false narratives…you don’t know what Earnie wants or doesn’t want at PSV.
Papi, most of these transfer rumors this time of year are just bluster from one side or another so really all of this is bs until Romano says “here we go!” The rumor is PSV was offered Gio by Roof (his and Malik’s agency) and they were not interested. I’ve heard several National pundits and grassroots media people express the same opinion that Earnie probably isn’t interested in being in Claudio and Danielle’s sphere again. Just as importantly Peter Bosz isn’t going to be interested in his defensive work rate.
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Yes, Pepi should have been there ahead of Morris.
Geez, if the PSV coach isn’t going to be interested in Reynas workrate, I would say that does not bode well for Pepi, at PSV.
Dikranovich, different positions different responsibilities. But Pepi works much harder in his pressing responsibilities than Gio has shown he wants to/ is able to do for Dortmund. PSV’s CMs have to press really hard as soon as the ball turns over, and given Gio was the slowest attacking player in the Bundesliga last year he’s not fast enough to play as W for PSV either.
No he doesn’t, certainly not with the national team. Pepsi is a poacher, and lacks defensive chops, with respect to the concept of team defense. Jr, you’re over stating yourself. Kind of reminds me of the old free beer movement days at the shin guardian.
Dikranovich,
“Pepsi is a poacher, and lacks defensive chops, with respect to the concept of team defense.”
What do you mean by defensive chops?
Dikranovich, I’m talking what he does for PSV. Also, usually if PSV turns the ball over Pepi is behind the play it’s CMs (like Tillman) and Ws that immediately counter press. Gio would be in that spot to have to counter press. Bosz probably doesn’t care what Gio or Ricardo do for the USA.
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I watch PSV a lot (less last winter when all the Americans got hurt) people think because they’re Dutch they don’t play defense so Gio would be fine. PSV does give up goals, but it’s because they play a high line high pressure defense and leave their CBs on islands with everyone else forward. If Gio can’t/won’t press, opponents would make them pay in transition. Doesn’t really matter sounds like he’s heading to Parma anyway.
oh dear god we’re back to a revival of the stupid “arriola runs harder on defense” idiocy.
division of labor. forwards to score, backs to defend. and reyna and pulisic will run back enough for purposes.
really, this silly argument reflects our identity confusion. a team with attacking wingbacks is contradicted by a team with pressing forwards. are we selling out on offense or defense? cause it’s odd to put in wingbacks for offense then not give them enhanced offense up top. but instead suddenly decide we are playing defense.
but then this is the team that is cavalier playing from the back and scared of its shadow in front of the other goal.
re gio’s speed, we are a glacial build team. so eff what.
i have argued turn this into a counter team with weah jedi dest etc. wide flying down the wing. that is not actually what we try to do.
we walk the ball up. he doesn’t need track spikes and a 10 second 100m to do that.
and you and i both know this is some sort of insinuation game on your part to attack the health of a a player ALWAYS known more for dribbling and calm passing than for mbappe style wing raids.
and per usual, we do not deploy the same heuristic anyplace else. we don’t look at how, say, pulisic plus reyna grinds to a halt for lack of wing speed. which implies as much about the other as well.
one reason i have pushed for puli reyna mids is i think they’d make this creative. but another is i think wings should be fast and they just aren’t. pulisic in his own way wants to slow down the game into james harden style iso ball against a defense already back. when what i want to see is what weah or campbell or cowell will do, which is immediately run at someone — like you tell a U16 to do. you don’t let your marker settle and close. you run at them and give them the fear of god.
and my guess if you put wings out there who will run, you can find ones who will also track or press.
but then that wanders back to what is the identity or goal here. how are we trying to score. what is the concept. to me it just looks like you throw a name brand all star team out and see what happens. it doesn’t feel strategic and often feels internally contradictory.
IV: purely talking about why Gio doesn’t work at PSV, which was the original comment Papi disagreed with. But I’m also guessing it’s why a lot of other places have passed. The old “division of labor” doesn’t apply to a lot of teams anymore, many managers demand their players do more than one thing well.
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How many of our GC goals were glacial?
McGlynn (Türkiye) 15 secs from Freese to back of the net.
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Tillman vs TnT (1&2) turnovers from Luna and Tillman high pressing
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Agyemang vs TnT 50 yd diagonal ball to Luna sprinting behind the backline deflected off Pat and in.
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Aaronson vs TnT couldn’t find extended clip of buildup but BA runs behind the backline, beats his man and scores
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Wright vs TnT Arfsten plays ball behind defense Haji runs 40 yds to win cuts inside scores
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Tillman vs Haiti long ball to Pat, Aaronson and Tillman have 40 yd sprints to get second ball,
Aaronson has to sprint to get to the initial rebound and hit Tillman back post.
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Agyemang vs Haiti ball over top to Pat goes from our half to back of the net in 8 secs
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Luna vs CR sprints about 30 yards in 4 secs from Richards passing it from before midline to goal is 7 secs.
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Arfsten vs CR Richards-Tillman-Agyemang-Tillman-Arfsten 8 secs goal covers about 50 yards
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Luna vs Guatemala only real methodical build up goal 11 touches about 40 secs
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Luna vs Guatemala (2)
Berhalter takes the ball 12 secs later Luna has it in the net, Seb-Tillman-Seb-Agyemang-Tillman-Luna
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The question really is can Gio really not move any faster than he has been? Or is he just an a#%? Because based on his movement for Dortmund he doesn’t get to a lot of those plays Tillman, Luna, and Aaronson did.
i mean, berhalter’s history is mostly mid at columbus punctuated by one MLS final his team blew in 12 minutes at home. then he gets the US and we barely qualify the golden generation, finish second in group, and go out round one of the world cup.
and now, right below the red line with chicago.
over-rated.
he basically lives off 2015 where he was 2nd in MLS and that one summer in 2021.
What the heck does Berhalter have to do with the current situation? Varas and Callaghan have their teams in 1stE and 2ndW playing the same style Gregg tried to employ with NT. Both are a little more pragmatic or adaptive in game but it’s the 4-3-3 ball possession style. Nashville even has one of the best Goals allowed.
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Golden generation? Let’s be honest the talent in our golden generation is less than an average Dutch team or German team:
Imp, through all your ramblings, there is one gem of a point. That is identity confusion. Until the USA can hone in on what are style is, and has been, we will continue chasing our tails. The soccer dorks here know that national teams have identities that were not forged on a whim. The Italians, , der mineshaft, the samba ball. Even Spain and France, more recent inclusions into the club, they have identities that run deep. It’s no mistake that tiki taka is like a bull fight.
i thought morris was underrated historically for what he did and when he did it, but he’s 30. i am convinced we are literally going back to 2019 or 2022 and rerunning dumb debates that went the other direction. ie no “passing 6s” and we need reyna.
this is regressing and the results reflect it.
and if i had to guess it’s that we hired someone from the same tactics as GB, who doesn’t seem to know the history, and is thus circling back to some of the same personnel and tweaks we already considered then sent to the circular file.
it is a waste of time to be repeating prior negative lessons.
to me the fact poch couldn’t coach the team in september, and when he did start, just xeroxed GB, is telling. he was hired for his name and doesn’t display a bunch of novel answers to our team. he doesn’t come across like someone who thoroughly studied us and knows what we tried that didn’t work, or everyone in the pool. he is very slow to churn the roster and consider fresh things.
i expected this to move forward more, but it”s more fulfilling my worst concerns that this was just “display anger by firing the coach” then business as usual.
to me we haven’t really fixed any problem areas and we’ve barely found anyone new to change the roster.
If Gio is fit, and performing well in his limited minutes playing behind excellent players, why is there not tons of interest? Yunus Musah with little playing time at Valencia sold for over 20 million with a similar salary. A former top prospect at only age 22, with a price tag at or under 10 million should have many suitors. Players also don’t get slower at age 20. Something is wrong.
you’re erasing out the role of critics like yourself, then not applying your bullet points to his competition.
erasing out — all the people talking crap about the kid, plus his own career issues, can’t help his value. if people talk down a stock. eventually the price may go down. regardless fundamentals.
meanwhile i feel very lonely in criticizing whether a musah mckennie midfield actually works. musah has a grand total of 1 goal and few assists for the US. and not much more for club.
y’all seem to adore pushing this in a direction where none of the mids are productive in the run of play, adams does something once a year, musah similar, and if the 3rd mid isn’t much of a run of play scorer……..who is creating? where are the goals coming from?
this can’t all be hard hats, or if it is, you need to change the formation and drop some of the backs who can’t mark.
“you’re erasing out the role of critics like yourself, then not applying your bullet points to his competition.” I 100% guarantee no one in position to hire or select any of these players is looking at fan comments on SBI or Twitter. That’s the most insane thing you’ve ever said.
-Look back at my comments in GC who did I suggest replacing Luca with in the fall? Gio Reyna. Said it multiple times. But he has to at least try to defend a little bit if he’s going to play CM.
-what Musah brings is press resistance (not unlike Dest). If Yunus is playing in the final against Mexico, he likely just dribbles out of trouble instead of hitting hopeful balls just to temporarily relieve pressure. His final ball is terrible though, as is his decision when to play said ball.
Good conversation fellas I appreciate it. Nice debate good talking points well done. Anybody know what his behavior is truly like with Dortmund and within US any accounts of it directly? Seems like an arrogant punk but doesn’t mean the day-to-day behavior was like that
one commentator says, “Dortmund develop wingers and attacking midfielders on an industrial scale.” a certain breed of US fan wants to read berhalter/adams’ beef into his dortmund playing time, when the reality is he’s generally either been out hurt or been productive off the bench.
who else got stuck on dortmund’s bench? pulisic. and campbell can’t get more than a couple minutes there.
reyna and campbell are both rumored on their way out. neither sucks. they are both stuck on a team that’s hard to make and arguably not the most US friendly ever. people who confuse stat lines with talent scouting — and who previously cried and dragged feet about the youthful playing time of guys like richards, weah, and others — are repeating their mistake.
they want to read reyna’s US political issues into dortmund. what dortmund has actually said is more like, “He has to accept his role, free himself from it. It was clear when we had the talks in the summer that Gio wanted to take on this role, that there will be enough games in which we need him. We know that he has incredible abilities……He worked on himself, worked on his stability, worked on his charisma,…This clever turning between the lines and his goal threat — he has developed that further. Gio can still be very important for us this season.”
i can’t find the quote but around when the berhalter-reyna beef was at its height, dortmund denied they had the same issues.
Care to explain the Forrest situation?
D: wrong destination. forest is ambitious and i don’t think the coach really wanted him. “He has been training well and is a lovely kid, but the team was in a tough cycle, fighting against relegation and the manager has prioritized playing players with Premier League experience already,”
but when he did get to start and play 71′ against wolves he had an assist. just like i explained when he got some rare extended playing time for dortmund this year he responded with 2G 1A.
everyone wants to moralize it and read the bs across to the other teams. none of the other teams mention the same issues.
also, while forest wanted him in, and pushed for him even as the negotiations faltered, they could never agree to a purchase option. so he was a player they had no buy option on a team whose coach was vocally opposed to developing players for other teams that they don’t get to keep.
Dikranovich,
Forrest should have told Gio that his representation was incompetent.
Gio needed to go somewhere he could show his stuff, somewhere that needed him. Forrest was the opposite of that.
The guys that he was in competition with, Elanga, CHO, Gibbs-White etc, were all going great. They needed to be going great because Forrest was in a relegation battle, needed every single point and were incapable of protecting a lead.
They didn’t need a Gio. They needed a Tyler Adams.
I read it as Nuno was not eager to fix something that was not broke.
The few minutes I saw Gio play he did not do any end to end sprinting but he also did not look out of place and under different circumstances Gio might have fit in well but Nuno was not going to break up a winning lineup unless he was forced to .They needed every point.
Vaqui, did you happen to reread what you wrote. First Forrest is in a relegation battle, then, the coach is not going to break up a winning formula. Which was it? The coach sure did find a winning formula this season, minus Reyna. I’m sure dortmond would have been happy to rent him out again this season, if there was interest.
Dikranovich,
Let me clarify.
Forrest’s attackers were going great. They were scoring reasonably well.
The problem was they couldn’t hold a lead.
While I think Gio plays defense better than most give him credit for, I don’t think he would have solved that problem for them. In spite of all the sturm and drang around Gio, no one here really knows what is going on between him and BVB.
Both parties are seemingly acting in ways that seem counter to their. We should know the story soon if and when Gio actually signs for some other team.
It should make for interesting reading.
IV,
“arguably not the most US friendly ever.”
The anti american card? you’re playing the anti american card? Who the fuck are you, Michael Bradley?
This isn’t Michael vs Kim Kallstrom.
Throughout all of Gio’s trials starting with Qatar BVB has , in public, always been very diplomatic about their player and said generally nice things about him. Gregg is gone, the team forgave Gio , the Reynas have been defanged, all of that business is dead and gone.
Then look at it carefully and you can see that for some time now BVB have been steadily reducing Gio’s role on the field into nothingness. So whatever the reason for that is, it is between Gio and BV and has nothing to do with Gregg.
Gregg may have been an idiot but he is not Gio’s problem. No one cares what he thinks.
BVB, on the other hand have a very long successful track record with outstanding young talent. If Anti-American BVB is giving up on Gio, that is a big godamned deal.
Don’t waste your time looking for positive quotes. When you have a car to sell you don’t describe it as a piece of shit that you want to dump on some stupid slob.
This is business.
Y’all have been pontificating on an issue about which none of us have any substantive facts beyond the bare essentials.
It’s all bullshit and pissing contests.
I’m pretty sure the vast majority on those of us who are actually USMNT fans hopes the Parma deal works out and Gio gets to go there, resets and and experiences a rebirth.
let’s talk facts. we have run horvath, reyna, and turner through forest. no one stuck and everyone’s NT chances reduced. if i was USMNT i would avoid the place.
maybe you’re not being attentive but the EPL has nearly emptied out on US assets. they don’t play our people. so they are almost all in scotland, holland, championship, italy, etc.
As a Charlotte FC supporter, we should absolutely sign Gio. DP spot open and the fan base needs some love after Patrick was sold to Derby.
Cole Campbell possibly heading to Eintracht Frankfurt. Likely a sale, supposedly Dortmund only willing to loan outside Germany.
i think you have that slightly backward. they’d prefer to loan him abroad. if that doesn’t work they are willing to send him someplace in germany but that would be for sale.
personally i think that’s executive CYA as opposed to sound GM strategy. if he moves within germany and comes back to haunt them, they want to say they got money for it. because otherwise they don’t seem to have near term plans for him, and if you offered him on loan in germany they’d probably have endless willing partners. and you could bring him back if he’s as good as i think and shows well.
this just feels like some GM covering his butt by reducing the market for the player.
which, i don’t get their reyna GM strategy either. they forced him to extend. they probably shrank their ROI doing it. he barely plays and his transfer value continues to slip because he sits for them.
people always want to read higher sophistication into european soccer. i mean there are still people concerned what lampard thinks of other US players even after he got fired from CFC and pulisic lit up ACM.
dortmund knows how to make wingers. i don’t think they know what to do with them all, and on the recent americans, i question if they know what they’re doing.
i mean, the reason they got $58m for pulisic is he actually got to start for a while, and had already progressed into a US role.
“Likely a sale to Frankfurt. Dortmund only willing to loan outside Germany.” Perhaps you just read it backwards.
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Definitely not going to loan a player to teams like Frankfurt or even Stuttgart that BvB compete with for European spots. I’ve been trying to get a feeling what Dortmund fans are thinking. They are mostly annoyed that it’s another young prospect being sold with no transfers coming in yet. So more how do we even know what we have with Cole than regret they’re losing him. Apparently Cole also changed his agents. His old agency arranged loans for several different Dortmund players, but the new agency seems more prone to transfers. So the sale might be preferred by both sides. Might also be that Kovac doesn’t rate him as highly Sahin did so if he is just going to be stuck in the 4th division with the U23s time to find playing time. I was optimistic he could make his case in the first couple friendlies with Duranville out after shoulder surgery and Gittens sold. I was kind of hoping he’d stay until January and be available for U20 WC. No idea on the roster makeup but Frankfurt has had success with Dortmund prospects Knauf and Collins recently.
Gio has had injuries more often than not. But, along with that, he is starting to look like a Freddy Adu story, where even minimal effort cannot be expected. He has talent, but so do so many other young players in Europe. This kid needs to swallow his pride, and work his tail off to even be considered for for the World Cup . But forget the World Cup right now, he just needs to find a team where he can even play minutes.
Gio had the slowest top speed of any Dortmund player in CWC. Even slower than Kobel the keeper. He only played 12 minutes in a game that meant little because Ulsan was eliminated and BvB just needed a draw. But let’s look at his performance per 90 averages last season compared to the league average at his position and league leader Florian Wirtz.
Max speed: Gio 27.7 kph League average 30.8 (32.6 Wirtz)
Number of sprints: G 11 Lavg 18.5 (26.5 Wirtz)
His max speed was dead last among attackers and 8th from last among all field players. He was also last in # of sprints per 90 and 7th from last in # of sprints for all field players in the Bundesliga.
I guess we’ll see after his transfer if he can’t run anymore or he won’t run.
Reyna was never fast. He has quick feet and good control. Which allows him to open up the field or open up a shot for himself.
Yes, but all those numbers are down. According to ESPN.com in 21-22 his speed was 30.8 then 30.1, then 28.3 and now 27.7. His number of sprints are down 7 per 90 from last season and 4.5 from 21-22. He’s gone from being the average to the slowest attacking player in the league, not at age 32 but age 22.
Wow……awesome stats, especially when compared to a young rising star like Florian Wirtz. People take for granted the importance of physical attributes and abilities……like speed (#JEDI #SPEED_DEMON_ROBINSON). Our players do not have the LEVEL OF TALENT as top countries but can try to even the playing field by enhancing things like top speed, aerial ability, reactionary ability, physicality etc. You look at Gio Reyna and all he has is DECENT ball control and passing skills …….that’s it. Well, at minimum, especially at an elite level, THAT COMES BASICALLY STANDARD with every player.
Speed is extremely important in soccer, which he doesn’t have. He can’t outpace opponents, drive at SUPPERIOR OPPONENTS to create scoring opportunities or effectively track back and defend…..which is key factor in both offensive and defensive strategies (quick transitions, exploiting defensive gaps etc.)
I wish him well; I really really do but he needs to figure himself out and soon……or we might just have another “Freddy Adu” on our hands.
weren’t we discussing 5 seconds ago how the US team in general progresses the ball glacially? i mean, i wish they sent weah and campbell down the wings on speedy counters, but not so much.
i also think you’re fibbing about reality when we’ve seen otherwise. to me he can do something roughly like luna and tillman just did, maybe even better. he can take people on, is fast enough for that. he is one of the few players who can just chill out and send a dangerous pass to the forwards. proven, done it in a couple tournaments before.
i assume the reason we’re hearing about theories on running effort and speed is poch likes to run his team a lot in practice. and so as with GB suddenly bringing up practice effort AFTER he benched reyna, this will be one of the excuses.
to me, the straws that stir the drink on this are players like reyna and luna. or pulisic if played in the middle. this requires some sort of a central aggressive capability or it turns into nibbling around the edges of a stale cookie. this is a lousy run of play crossing team. it needs something more direct and punchy. and it needs more than one of them in case the starter wants to leave.
i mean, my critique of the US in the reyna era was the nature how we played changed the minute he came off, as we had no like for like. it’s then amusing to me that given the chance to have more than one guy like that, the rush is to annoint someone else then dump reyna. not have 2-3 guys of the type.
it’s amusing because we’re happy to stockpile 9s but for some reason 10s we don’t want a bench. we want them backed up by fairly useless 8s.
anyhow, the selection politics of the US are bizarre and often seem more like after fact CYA than owning coaching decisions. the reyna discussion at the world cup got going as we stuttered along and oddly didn’t use him. reyna got scapegoated for nations league where he barely played. the pulisic thing which blew up after the roster was sorted.
it feels more like weird coaching politics and obsessions than like we do a great job identifying the best talent and getting it on the field together.
Not knowing the financial implications or situation regarding salary demands, etc., from a club standpoint, I think a good result would be for him to go to PSV to replace Malik Tillman. As we know, the Eredevisie seems to emphasize attacking over defense and I think he and Tillman are very similar players.
Gary,
Two things one, do you think Earnie Stewart wants to be back involved in the Reyna sphere? Second, PSV are heavy counter pressers. Does Gio over the last two years give any indication he is going to press with intensity of Malik?
Johnnyrazor,
You keep asking if Earnie wants to be “involved with the Reyna’s again.” Enough of that nonsense. That whole ordeal was BERHALTER’s fault. What happens “within the locker room, stays within the locker room.” If Berhalter would have kept his pie hole shut, none of that would have unfolded. You’re ASSUMING that Earnie thinks the Reyna’s are at fault…you’re assuming a lot…maybe he feels it was Berhalter’s fault and that Gregg betrayed Earnie’s trust.
Gio will land on his feet, and if Earnie thinks he can help PSV win, which is the bottom line, and all the particulars can be worked out, he will have no problem bringing Gio in.
According to witness statements in the final report. Claudio sent text messages to Stewart and McBride after the Wales match expressing his displeasure calling US Soccer a clown show and a “expletive” joke. Danielle refused to ride on the family bus back to the hotel. The following day at a family lunch event she is heard by witnesses saying “when the tournament is over I can make one call and one interview and Gregg with his cool shoes and bounce passes will be gone.” Gio’s poor behavior in training continued causing the leadership council to meet to discuss sending him home. Gio is informed that he needs to apologize and discontinue his negative behavior. He does both. On Thanksgiving, McBride and Stewart meet with Claudio and Danielle, Claudio makes another threat saying “ You guys don’t even know what we know about Gregg.”
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Whether they intended to say anything or not they were certainly throwing it out there that they were ready to. The refusing to ride on the bus with Rosalind seems to indicate they were ready to, but that’s up to interpretation. Either way, how many parents of pro athletes do you think Earnie has had texting, calling, and meeting with because of playing time?
Papi, no way. revisionist history. I want Gio to succeed but come on man. He is currently the poster child for our spoiled American player development system. Gio and his entourage are FULLY TO BLAME for his position in the soccer world today, club and international. hopefully they own it so he can move by this crap.
Please read JR’s FACTUAL account of his situation, both on the field and off of it.
That is total nonsense Papi. While Gregg shouldn’t have made his comment (which was in a private forum and was explicitly “off the record”), Claudio and Danielle were and are 100% at fault for the ensuing mess. As Jonny lays out clearly. Being hot, athletic, and popular their whole lives (I was UNC classmates with Danielle, Gregg, and Ros) clearly made Mr & Mrs Reyna into entitled, arrogant, buttholes who abused their access and position.
JR,
All that detail about the behind the scenes on Reyna gate makes me wonder about how the USSF conducts business in general. Timo Weah’s dad is President of Liberia. Does he get to throw his weight around? And Gregg Berhalter is head coach of the Chicago Fire. Is he going to force Seba on Pochettino?
I can think of a lot of places where as soon as Danielle said that first sentence she would have been thrown out of the office.
I get that Claudio is BFF with Earnie and McBride but if they can’t tell the difference between business and blatantly personal then it’s a good thing they aren’t employed there anymore.
The point is Reynagate gets no traction in any business with even the minimum level of professionalism.
If Gio approaches PSV and they have even the slightest whisper of professionalism, PSV will either order Earnie to ignore Gio or ban the parents from any contact with PSV.
If you’ve ever done business with the Dutch they are very nice but very candid and they don’t fuck around. Life is too short and Gio is not Messi.
Papi– he benched one of his better players. we then exited the tournament ugly after the first knockout round. there was criticism of the choice and a question does he come back.
he broke spades because he wanted CYA other than he made a dumb tactical choice that backfired. so it became player effort at practice. he smarted off in a talk. reyna’s parents then said, this is bs, he was practicing hard and shut down after he was told he’s benched.
it was 3 errors, not 1. airing it in public, yes, but also the coaching decision. and also the fib of pretending the effort preceded the benching rather than followed it.
no, since people seem to forget, bench was a coaching decision. rotting him there and nearly sending him home was based on subsequent practice effort.
but GB doesn’t want it understood that way because then he has to defend his dumb personnel choice.
and ironically the smear has basically worked. people think reyna got benched for loafing. and now everywhere he goes if he doesn’t play that is the first assumption. they ignore, for example, the sheer pile of attacking talent at dortmund, such that his talented teammate campbell plays even less than he does. and no one accuses that kid of being lazy.
no, he loafed after being told he wouldn’t start, at which point they nearly sent him home for discipline.
sorry, a lot of this line of discussion is crap. i thought my college coach trained us too hard, including the day before games. i would down-throttle some practices. i share iverson’s views on practice. judge me on games. but my college coach didn’t like it and would sometimes send an aggressive hard tackling forward around to pressure me and up my practice work rate.
here’s the deal. if i get it done in the games. then the practice discussion is politics and a sideshow.
the politics surrounding this team are so stupid and self defeating. it’s not like we have accelerated into the skies having benched our little loafer. instead we regressed and now look back to that time period as what we wish to return to.
what does that tell you?
Johnnyrazor,
Are you kidding me???…you posted a portion of the final report?…thanks for the recap.
You clearly have never been in a professional soccer environment, have you?
Claudio is Gio’s de facto agent. Sporting Directors and Coaches get calls / texts ALL THE TIME from players, their agents, their family members, their wives, their girlfriends, their groupie’s, etc., and those calls are regularly ridiculous calls that include childish behavior. You think the Reyna’s are the only parents that do that?
Ha!…funny shit!…it’s a more common occurrence than you could ever imagine. You’re not that naive, are you?
On a side note, don’t forget to get your Christmas list to Santa!
beachbum,
Berhalter fucked things up the minute he told Gio that he wasn’t going to use him. That is amateur hour leadership. When he decided to sub on Jordan Morris instead of Gio vs Wales, it was clear Berhalter was not doing what was best for the team to win. No way Jordan Morris gives the USMNT a better chance than Gio to score a second goal and get 3 points in the first game of the 2022 World Cup. The USMNT at a World Cup is not orange slices and Capri-Suns. You go with your best team…and that was Gio. Do you think that Argentina didn’t have internal strife during Qatar? France didn’t in 2018? Germany didn’t during ’14? To use your words, “come on man.”
Minkheel,
“Being hot, athletic, and popular their whole lives (I was UNC classmates with Danielle, Gregg, and Ros) clearly made Mr & Mrs Reyna into entitled, arrogant, buttholes who abused their access and position.”
People who are hot, athletically gifted, and popular, think highly of themselves? Well you don’t say??…welcome to the real world. Regardless of Gio’s proclivities, or those of his parents, Gio has oodles of skill, and I repeat, if he is healthy, and can help a team win, he will land with another team. ALL professional sports teams have entitled, arrogant, primadonna, assholes. Have you heard of the names, Neymar, Mbappe, and Zlatan?
Papi – I didn’t say anything about Gio. My comment was purely about his parents. Never attributed their bad behavior to him.
During the whole thing I felt kinda bad for him, honestly. In part because of the narrative it was creating about him based on limited information.
Papi – dude…this starts and ends with Giovanni Reyna. Clear the noise and the clutter.
How many times in professional soccer has a coach benched a player? How many times has the player then slow quit on his team? How many times has the player upped his intensity to prove to the coach that he was benched incorrectly? How many times has the player broke through and proved his point? How many times has a coach either been humbled and claimed it? How many times has a coach been fired for his mismanagement of players? Every answer is to all these questions is – a million times more than the answer to the slow quit question.
Giovanni Reyna was a big babyhead and brought this all on himself. Period. End of discussion. He demonstrated zero professional attitude. His parents are not accountable for his actions in the locker room and on the training pitch. He is and was. His career is defined by those actions.
IV – you got it wrong. We all remember his RESPONSE to the benching was being a big babyhead and “loafing”. You make it sound like “loafing” is an appropriate response to being benched. Surely you are not ok with that, are you? At a World Cup? Where rotation, another player’s poor form, injuries and/or (shocking as it may seem) hard work in training could change the coach’s mind. You are advocating “loafing”???
minkheel,
Make no mistake about it, Gio has a sense of entitlement and it’s because he is a supremely gifted soccer player. The history of professional soccer is littered with individuals like Gio. Some have great soccer careers, others don’t. Let’s see how Gio’s story continues to unfold.
That said, let’s get one thing clear, everyone thinks Berhalter shouldered no blame for what happened and that he is angelic. If anyone knows Berhalter, they know it’s a crock of shit. You went to UNC with him, so you know, right?
MOTO,
Wrong. You’re absolving Berhalter of any responsibility or fault. It is professional sports, a World Cup nonetheless. Berhalter’s FIRST job is to win, and in trying to do so, field the players that give the team the best chance to do so. Jordan Morris over Gio??…never.
The USMNT is professional sports at the highest levels…it is not the army. Everyone does not need to walk in lockstep together. It’s not kindergarten where everyone needs get along and act a certain way. It’s about winning, hence my reference to Mbappe, Neymar, and Zalatan. #Recognize
Papi: we shouldn’t forget a month earlier Gio left after 30 minutes due to injury against Saudi. He had gone over 67 minutes once all season. He had only played 90 one time in 15 months. Only more than 45 minutes, 7 times in those 15 months. So Gregg had reason not to start him. His replacement Weah scored so the decision not to start him proved sound. If Gio had handled being told he wasn’t starting like a pro and not tried to sabotage the team’s one friendly before the first game he may have come in against Wales. But he didn’t, he didn’t have to like Gregg’s decision, or agree with it, but he did need to be a teammate and help his team be ready for Wales. Gio chose not too. Regardless of his behavior, after Zimmerman’s folly and we needed another goal in the last 5 minutes putting on a sub that has had a major calf injury and two more reinjuries of that you aren’t be responsible if you try to ramp him into readiness that quickly. Beyond that Morris gives you heading capability, when at the end of game attacks typically revert to desperation crosses as defenses shrink the space in the box. You don’t have to agree with Gregg’s decisions, but they were reasonable coach’s decisions both which had Gio’s health and ability to play the entire tournament in mind. And neither mean Gregg thought Tim or Jordan are better players than ‘22 Gio. They made more sense than subbing Jack McGlynn against Panama in the NL.
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Both sides are at fault here, just because someone holds Gio or Claudio or Danielle accountable doesn’t mean they’re clearing Gregg of wrongdoing. What we do know is Gio’s playing time and tepid interest in the transfer market has nothing to do with Gregg. What we don’t know is it the parents meddling with his agents or is it Gio’s attitude or musculature?
Gio Reyna and his agent have to be real with his current talent standard, physical abilities and attributes, the value he will bring to a team and the ability to get consistent playing time. Right off the top, I’d remove the top 5 leagues in the world……
▪️ English Premier League
▪️ Serie A
▪️ German Bundesliga
▪️ LaLiga
▪️ Ligue 1
▪️ Brasileirão – (he will not survive there!!!) ……and so, I’d have him search for a top 3 team with quality from
▪️ Primeira Liga
▪️ Belgian Pro League
▪️ Major League Soccer
▪️ English Championship
▪️ Eredivisie
▪️ Liga MX
At least in MLS he’ll kinda be a star (like a Hirving Lozano…..I mean I’d want to see him play lol). Either way, he has no more room for error in jumpstarting his career. If he’s thinking about having the slightest chance at playing the 2026 World Cup, he needs to make the RIGHT move now.
Word is he was offered to teams in Eredivisie and Portugal and they were not interested. Salary demands might have something to do with that because his transfer fee isn’t that high currently.
to me he should play in some league like holland, some spanish teams, MX, or some MLS, where he will not be crunched the second he gets the ball. technical type leagues/situations. you kind of hint at it with he wouldn’t survive brazil. i think roughly similar EPL.
he has to stay healthy. he has to go someplace he gets consistent and fairly abundant playing time and puts up the numbers US soccer analytics types want.
i think he has a little of freddy adu’s expense trap. he will want a decent salary. and dortmund will ask for a decent size fee. and that narrows his options. for a guy who really needs to be picky and find a welcoming home.
if it wouldn’t ruin his world cup chances i’d almost say, run dortmund down to zero or close to that, either free agent or maybe they release him, and let his market reset. he could then pick a more calibrated home.
my concern re LAFC is the coach leaves in half a season and he’s then an orphan depending on the next coach’s affection. i think in the current version, yeah, tmidtable and they have a couple productive attackers and that’s it. that and they regularly sub the front line. so he either starts or is rotating in for extended subs.
but then dolo leaves in december, and then what.
but i’d prefer that to flamengo going deep in CWC and mid-season, or hoping he cracks sociedad. USMNT players used to think more about being sure they were playing. including yoyo-ing back to MLS for assured time. this would be more of a make sure he plays more. which is what he needs to deal with our current selection politics, as long as he can stay healthy and produce.
one way of doing it would be a half season loan with a buy option. but dortmund reminds me of chelsea the past decade or so. hoard players and grub money. and this is their window to cash in. so does he get sold high bidder regardless what it does for the player.
If you are saying he might not start for LAFC and the new manager in February might bench him entirely… IN MLS! Then how can you say he’s still NT quality? At some point we can’t blame 15 different managers and 3 different organizations the commonality is Gio. If he can’t be a lock starter on any team in MLS he’s not NT level. There’s no roster in MLS that a motivated and fit Gio shouldn’t start for.
Truthfully there’s no team in the B1 aside from maybe Bayern that a motivated and fit Gio shouldn’t start for.
We can debate the “motivated” part all day long, but the “fit” part is not a subject of debate – he clearly hasn’t been fit, and he’s clearly carrying some sort of injury that’s hampering him. Sometimes guys are just snakebit. And every sports medicine person in the world will tell you that nothing sets you up more for future significant injury…than prior significant injury. You compensate…and end up hurting something else.
Hopefully it’s a case like Zack Steffen’s where he’s able to come back to MLS, get starts, get into a groove, and resurrect his career. Somebody here did mention that players who get regular starts get injured less because they develop match fitness and they were absolutely correct.
Going somewhere he’s actually wanted could also do wonders for his head space.
reread my post. you’re misreading my “maybe a couple productive players and they use their bench” comment. you’re reading it backwards what i meant. my point is dolo could hate his guts and he’d probably either start someplace or be regular bench every night. they have maybe 2 good impact players. my point is we all know that’s better than dortmund for him.
my primary point, however, is the coach trying to bring him in will be gone in half a season. when a new coach comes in you start back at zero. you can be orphaned in the process. you aren’t the new guy’s pick. sometimes that sends you to the bench. he’s had this issue at dortmund before. pulisic has run into it. it doesn’t always turn out well.
your argument displays typical US fan grasp of soccer. it’s not all talent. it’s the scheme and how you fit it. it’s do you have a stable positional role or is the coach confused how to use you. it’s whether your coach likes you.
my point is he badly needs a stable place to move to, where the coach isn’t leaving in 5 minutes, who knows where to use him well.
personally i think you’d have to be mental to suggest he will struggle in MLS as a basic measuring stick. that’s this absurd roller coaster fan hyperbole. but he’s played so sparingly it’s unclear what his role is, and given the hyerbolic panic at USSF’s analytics department, and among US fanboy types, he needs seamless. i mean right into the lineup someplace. end of analytical questions. end of hyperbole.
and if that doesn’t happen, this political selection crap will continue, and to be fair, we’ll see if he has the broader attitude issues some suggest.
as such, i don’t know if a coaching switch is his best choice. this could work for the second half of 2025 then blow up with the next guy. i think he needs a coach not one foot out the door where if this goes well, it stays well rather than resets in december.
but your broader argument is ridiculous. you have lost all perspective on this. surely you grasp that just because luna and tillman have emerged, that they are roughly his level in terms of what they have done for the team or slightly worse– i mean, we did just lose to mexico that reyna beat in OT — and that a bunch of bench regulars are worse than reyna. period. whether you dislike his speed, workrate, or attitude.
also, my original comment already spoke to “leading the race.” you’re missing that my whole point was one of the european suitors could win and i think that’s even worse.
i’m wondering what’s up with his mr 10% because his choices are often a little off. eg, doubling down on dortmund repeatedly, notts forest at the expense of an extension that dragged this out.
why can’t it be any of the other 30-ish MLS — except presumably austin that split with his dad, or the fire that hired GB — and find one where you’re sure to start and the coach isn’t gone in 5 minutes with it announced already.
i don’t buy for a second they aren’t interested. if there’s an issue my bet is it’s closer to the “transfer fee trap.” that he’s been just good enough you can ask a team for $10-20 million. there goes my dynamo cheapskates — they only ever got HH on a pre-signing, and i don’t think we’ve ever broken $10m for anyone.
no, the basic problem is they probably want “starter money” for reyna while the team signing him isn’t quite sure what they are getting. i don’t think it’s your insinuations of something physical going on. i think it’s that’s a lot of money for a guy with injuries and who hasn’t actually stepped into the starter role he should have.
and you could do that same thing with richards or weah or even pulisic when dortmund decided to sell him and keep sancho. the added extra spice being you don’t quite know what he looks like as a starter.
it’s the uncertainty. even i, a fan, am like, will he finally emerge, or will he get hurt, or will he butt heads with some more coaches and flame out.
IV,
“your argument displays typical US fan grasp of soccer. it’s not all talent. it’s the scheme and how you fit it. it’s do you have a stable positional role or is the coach confused how to use you. it’s whether your coach likes you.”
You are saying that the typical US fan does not understand that ? Are you kidding? Perhaps you don’t know any typical US fans.
1. A competent manager plays players that they think gives their team the best chance to win.
2. It is up to the player to do what they can to convince the manager that he gives the team the best chance to win.
Just about every typical US fan of soccer or any other sport understands all of that along with the criteria you listed very clearly.
“my point is he badly needs a stable place to move to, where the coach isn’t leaving in 5 minutes, who knows where to use him well.’
There is no such thing as a stable place. And when you are transferring, ALL transfers are risky ventures. Gio did a whole lot of positive things at BVB. There is no guarantee, ZERO, that he can replicate those things at a new club.
And by the way, that is why guys like Johnny and Malik can do great things at Betis and PSV, respectively and then fail to replicate them with the USMNT. Of course, Malik has finally come through that and hopefully Johnny will as well. But there is no guarantee.
Being a pro athlete is a very risky business.
“personally i think you’d have to be mental to suggest he will struggle in MLS as a basic measuring stick. that’s this absurd roller coaster fan hyperbole. but he’s played so sparingly it’s unclear what his role is, and given the hyerbolic panic at USSF’s analytics department, and among US fanboy types, he needs seamless. i mean right into the lineup someplace. end of analytical questions. end of hyperbole.”
These four sentences show what you are all about, bullshit and excuses.
Gio makes nearly 2.9 million a season. Anyone taking on Gio is going to want to know what they are getting for their 2.9 million. And they are not likely to be that patient. So your endless bullshit excuses for Gio will be useless. No one is paying Gio to be a squad player.
Gio at his best is a player that any team would want. He needs to show that he still has it or a least that there is reason to believe he can get it back in a timely fashion. If he can do that it doesn’t matter if Dolo leaves in six months.
On the other hand, if in the first six months he looks like he does now at Dortmund no one anywhere is going to want to pay 2.9 million for a statue.
Gio is the seller. No one is going to pay him to rehabilitate his career on their backs.
“and if that doesn’t happen, this political selection crap will continue, and to be fair, we’ll see if he has the broader attitude issues some suggest.
as such, i don’t know if a coaching switch is his best choice. this could work for the second half of 2025 then blow up with the next guy. i think he needs a coach not one foot out the door where if this goes well, it stays well rather than resets in december.
but your broader argument is ridiculous. you have lost all perspective on this. surely you grasp that just because luna and tillman have emerged, that they are roughly his level in terms of what they have done for the team or slightly worse– i mean, we did just lose to mexico that reyna beat in OT — and that a bunch of bench regulars are worse than reyna. period. whether you dislike his speed, workrate, or attitude.”
You want perspective? You’re a fool.
Gio is yesterday’s news;
Luna and Tillman are not at his level but they are HERE. Those “bench regulars…worse than reyna.” they are HERE.
Superior player Gio is THERE.
If I’m the manager I focus on who is HERE.
To paraphrase General Patton:
“ a good solution implemented right now is better than a superior solution implemented next week.”
There’s seemingly no urgency to get anything done in Gio’s camp. It’s as if he doesn’t get that right now he’s not on the 2026 World Cup team.
I read all your bullshit excuses for why Gio is not being treated well but even if you are 100% right, the fact remains it looks like he’s not on the team. If he does not do something soon to address that; you and he, the two of you, can both be 100% right and then watch the World Cup together at your house.
I’m going to again argue with the term “leading the race” used by the original German article. It seems LAFC is leading the attempt to sign Gio at a slow methodical pace. Not unlike how Gio has been moving in his appearances on the pitch the last few seasons.
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Reports in January said Dortmund’s asking price was between 10-12 million, recent reports have it down to 5 million. Yes, that means you can get Gio cheaper than Patrick Agyemang or Damion Downs. Any MLS team with a DP spot should be racing for Gio, but they aren’t so that should tell us something.
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If Gio’s legs are so fragile at this point that he can’t run then that is sad that his career has taken such a nose dive from injury. If he is fit and just choosing to not try that is a level of self sabotage we maybe have never seen.
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I’d still put Gio on my 23 if the WC started tomorrow, but if Gio just thinks he can come in and jog around in MLS for 12 months he’s not making it.
Have you watched any of minutes at dortmund this year? I have not so I couldn’t make a judgment but in my opinion we need him to be back on his game next year
It’s hard to watch him when he plays so sporadically. You’d expect him to really get after it when he does, but he doesn’t. His stat at the CWC was he was the slowest player in the tournament. Now game state says a lot coming in for minutes at the very end Ulsan was already eliminated, but really. He was the slowest player. Basically he walked for 12 minutes.
Sorry slowest player on Dortmund not sure about all teams.
does your rhetoric ever update to facts? he had a groin strain in the fall. but after that i can find footage of him scoring a screamer on hoffenheim in december, a nice placed shot from the top of the box in january, and a backheel assist in UCL, funny but doesn’t look like he’s gone all o’brien/holden to me. he looks like himself.
what you generally see, if you even bother looking closely at the stats, much less the games, is he gets productive when he’s used more than a cameo 10′ at the end of a game. kiel, he plays a half hour. hoffenheim, he plays 76′. but that’s about 1/3 of his total league minutes for the year.
the idea he is physically broken is dated. they continued to dress him all spring. they just didn’t use him.
the fix for not getting used (but being productive when you do) is not complicated. you want me to explain it?
and it’s the backwards of what the “form” obsessives think, who equate not playing to you suck. we should have enough history of quality players sitting at big clubs or stuck on the B team (richards, weah, etc…..even pulisic) to not fall for this nonsense every time.
and yet here we are.
i guess it’s worth generating column inches to pretend players are toast and then revive them if they finally make a smart career move. talent is talent and there’s very literal real reason to sit out NT players based on how club is going.
endless history of twellman sargent wondo “club wonders” who don’t translate, or big club stragglers like dempsey who are banished to rotational or bench duty but quite ready to do something for us.
and now you can give me the attitude lecture, and i can give you the “did mr. hardwork adams do a thing all summer” response. it’s a results job, and our best results were with him playing an important role. the results have depleted since. does that ever factor into your calculus? that and it’s not our job to police any sort of issues he has with the fact dortmund keeps playing hardball with his transfer and maybe his desire to risk his bidy and future for them is very low.
bare minimum, he should make a 23/26 in some role. it’s laughable to suggest he’s worse than aaronson, mcglynn, LDLT, busio, sargent, miljevic, ferreira, cowell, or many other bench candidates. the hyperbole surrounding form roller coasters on this team is absurd. talent is talent. dude can ball.
just like, cole campbell is fast as heck good feet, and can finish, and people will see that if he ever plays. i think most US fans right now follow the coach around by their nose. they know the moment. they play along with every political excuse. and they can’t compare one guy’s big picture value to another if they aren’t on the same field.
IV: We don’t know all of the facts. If you read my comments or any of my comments in the last 3 years relating to Gio, I’m pretty consistent. He’s one of our 5 most talented players. (I think maybe our most talented) If you watch him over the last 12 months (since returning from NF), he does not run on defense. Gio’s work rate at BvB was never outstanding but he was serviceable and for Nats he would put in a good shift comparable to his teammates. That all stopped he walks on defense and barely moves on offense. So either he’s got an attitude problem, he’s hurt, he’s gotten terrible advice from his agents or family, or he’s psychologically afraid of being injured.
———————-
He’s had multiple managers with his clubs and multiple managers with the national team the message has been clear, it’s not politics or personality conflicts it’s his effort. This is on Gio, Cherundolo isn’t going to play him because he’s a name, he didn’t play Giroud. He’s going to have to play like 2020 Gio or at least 2022/23 Gio because 2g 0a in 1200 minutes over the last two seasons is not good enough when you don’t play any defense. Gio used to play defense he doesn’t anymore.
Correction 2g 2a in two years.
Sorry bruh, but you don’t bring a player to the biggest tournament in the sport just based off kf them having talent, and anyone that’s played sports at a high enough level knows that. Talent will o lyrics get you so far in any sport, it’s the intangibles, being a good teammate, fitting into the teams philosophy etc that rounds out whether a player justifies being a part of something bigger. Clearly, Gio’s club managers over the last 3 years don’t see it with him and the lack of minutes speaks to that, and because as you’ve said he hasn’t been injured so we can’t keep.using that as an excuse
No one can question Gio’s talent, but what can be and should be questioned is what’s going on in between his ears, his mindset and whether he wants it bad enough. Baller or not, if you’re not showing you’re willing to put the work in and to go all out to get minutes then how dare you assume you’re supposed to be on a WC roster. And if he misses this next WC we can stick a fork in him because it’ll be 2 consecutive WC’s where he derailed his own chances of showing the type of player he can be
IV,
It’s interesting how when the USMNT comes up, as far as you are concerned, just about everything wrong with the team is because the USMNT does not have Cole and Gio in.
1. Cole is trying to get his career up off the ground.
2. Gio is trying, allegedly, to keep his career from crashing into the ground.
At this point, and it is still early, neither one will be on the World Cup team.
Leaving aside their issues with the BVB management ( and there are a lot of those) Pochettino has made it very, very clear that he wants guys who will die for the shirt. Some of you have criticized Pochettino for not taking the blame for the team’s failures.
He shouldn’t take any blame.
When he got here he found out that the A team had been “Behaltered”. It seems like the players were happy to come in and play golf with their buddies while Gregg took all the heat for the losses.
Pochettino saw that and his answer was take Cupcake seriously and find some US players who do give a fuck.
A Gold Cup final loss? Players crying in the locker room? Good. It shows us that these inferior guys give a fuck. Max can’t play defense but at least he gives a fuck.
Cole wants in? Fine he should get himself some first team minutes somewhere even though you IV, think first team minutes and club form means jack shit. What you, IV, don’t get is Cole wants a job so he has to impress not IV, but rather impress the hiring person. That would be Mauricio. Cole also needs to show he gives a flying fuck.
For example, when JK took over, in the run up to the 2014 World Cup Clint had not had the best season with Seattle where he had just signed. So when MLS ended in November. Clint took a two month loan with Fulham who were struggling at the time.
“It feels good to be back,” he told the Fulham club website. “This has always felt like my home in Europe. Going into a World Cup year, I want to get back to playing at the highest level and get back to top form.”
I’m pretty sure there was no way in hell JK drops Clint AND LD but Clint, rather than take time off and rest, made sure of his spot, took what had to be a brutal two month loan because he gives a flying fuck about his national team.
Hopefully, the Parma deal happens and Gio gets back to his best and then has a nice long sit down with Mauricio and tries to convince him that he, Gio, still gives a flying fuck.
Johnnyrazor,
Agreed, if Gio is no longer physically fit to run, then it will be sad.
That said, have you given any thought to the possibility that things between Gio ( and his camp ) have become so contentious with Dortmund that it has evolved into a pissing match?
If Gio is truly injured and no longer able to perform, I find it hard to believe Dortmund would play him in games, and I find it even harder to believe that they would keep him around. They would terminate his contract and come to an agreement on a buyout amount.
I see this more as a calculated move by Gio and his team to bide their time and not reward Dortmund such that they can get a high transfer fee for him.
Papi,
If you notice I said he’s either hurt or sabotaging himself. I don’t know that sabotaging Dortmund in that way does anything for Gio. We saw very little interest in loan candidates when he went to Nottingham. I mean reports were BvB were asking 15-18 million in January and are down to bargain basement 5 million now. Even in January there was reported interest from Milan, and later interest from Spain but that’s all gone silent. If teams didn’t have concerns there should be people lining up for Gio for a price between 5-15 but there’s no indication of that. I hope he finds a spot and plays back to his 2020 levels, but with each day I’m less hopeful.
PG
“I see this more as a calculated move by Gio and his team to bide their time and not reward Dortmund such that they can get a high transfer fee for him.”
Okay. Let’s assume you are 100% right.
What does Gio get out of this?
If there is a physical (or mental) issue that is one thing. Pochettino had Gio in briefly and did not play him saying he was not fit. If there was something really serious you’d think the physios would have seen it. Good luck getting him to spill the beans on that.
But if there is no such issue, when gossiping about this we are all at a disadvantage because none of us know the details of Gio’s contract.
Years ago Hamburg had dropped into B2 and unfortunately for them they had signed this American guy, one Bobby Wood, to a very lucrative long term contract. Even more unfortunately, for Hamburg, Bobby’s knees were kaput. He was basically useless on the field and he could not be sold or traded being damaged goods and all.
So he basically hung around and did nothing but collect his pay checks My feeling was that if Hamburg could have released Bobby they would have but they didn’t. I believe he hung around until his contract ended and then he moved back to MLS. I don’t know if there is something about contracts in Germany but maybe there is something similar about Gio’s contract.
Regardless, the whole thing should come to a resolution soon.
JR,
All the stats you cited tell me either Gio has a serious physical or mental issue related to running
OR
He and BVB have a serious issue and as PG suggests Gio is bound and determined to bust out.
I hope PG is right because as good as Tillman looked, if Gio can get back to anywhere near his “ I’m Earling’s caddy” self, it’s no contest. I make him the USMNT’s version of Rodri, and you realize if he does come back it might push Seba off the roster, if you are looking for irony