There’s nothing American football (wait, sorry, soccer) fans love more than hyping up one of their own, and finally, in the 2020s there have been a slew of young American footballers actually worth hyping up.
Most of them found their first foothold in the Bundesliga, and with the success of Christian Pulisic, who would bag a Champions League trophy at Chelsea before becoming an even better player for AC Milan, there’s been no shortage of fans scouring the German top flight for the next big thing in the USMNT.
It was only natural, then, for the next big American talent at Borussia Dortmund, Gio Reyna, to be the next vict- I mean, uh, subject of the hype machine that is the entirely niche – and mostly stupid – so-called “mainstream” American soccer punditry.
I call them “mostly stupid”, because, well, that’s what they are, and the purpose they have served towards young American talents like Pulisic, Reyna, Weston McKennie, and countless others has been almost entirely destructive.
Get on FOX or ESPN, hype up said U23 player you’ve watched at the European level maybe twice, tell everyone he is the greatest thing since sliced bread, completely ignore his totally normal flaws or the usual progression of a young player, set unrealistic expectations, and then watch as non-American fans properly evaluate said player and then start blow-ups within fanbases over a perfectly decent footballer whom everyone likes.
Gio Reyna was hyped too fast at Dortmund
Reyna pretty much became that guy at Dortmund. He flashed serious potential, literally won games with his golden right foot, but because he was a young playmaker on a team with guys like Marco Reus and Julian Brandt who had literally been among the best playmakers in the Bundesliga and national team level players for YEARS, it was hard for him to get starts.
Injuries didn’t help. The fact that Reyna was both frail and very little in terms of defense or winning one-on-ones consistently out wide didn’t help. He wasn’t versatile enough to play on the wings, he was physically weaker than Reus and Brandt at that stage, and it was hard for Dortmund to justify playing him when their weaknesses and strengths as a team matched up with Reyna.
Usually, that’s not a bad thing in terms of a player fitting a team’s style, but the problem was that Dortmund had better, more well-rounded options on a team that needed to win to avoid missing out on the Champions League. And furthermore, Reyna didn’t materially add anything different to Dortmund.
None of that is necessarily an indictment on Reyna as a player. He just had bad luck and needed a different situation. But because he not only was an American player but also the next great American hope whose father just happened to be a national team legend in Claudio Reyna, the situation became volatile, especially when Dortmund started feeling the heat of all the nonsense Gio’s father started in the press against his national team manager.
Your reminder that he’s still a U23 talent
Look, I don’t really want to get into that, but the background is all a long-winded way of saying two things.
1) I genuinely feel for Reyna, because he absolutely was – and I hate to hype up American players more than I have to because of how some fans get with their destructive ways – the real deal. He just got screwed by a combination of injuries, pressure, and playing in the same position as two Bundesliga icons.
2) He’s back. I mean, save for a brief loan spell to Nottingham Forest that was never going to go anywhere, he never actually left Dortmund and the Bundesliga. But he’s back in the sense that, with a transfer to Borussia Monchengladbach this summer, he’s back in a theoretical situation where he can actually play consistently and show his quality.
Gladbach bought Reyna within the last week for seven million euros, which is actually a fantastic fee for a player who has received starts in the Bundesliga since 2019…and is still only 22.
And on that note, there are three things I really like about this deal for Reyna. Firstly, Gladbach are probably playing more exciting football than even Dortmund these days, given BVB’s coach is the notoriously pragmatic Niko Kovac.
Secondly, the pressure is off Reyna at Gladbach; most people don’t watch them play in the United States or the United Kingdom.
And thirdly, with all his years of experience in the Bundesliga and all the crap he went through, after feeling what it’s like to struggle, Reyna is much wiser and isn’t going to take this opportunity with, despite their lack of international attention, a pretty prestigious Bundesliga club.
Gladbach are building an exciting team
If players like Tim Kleindienst, Kevin Stoger, and Frank Honorat are putting up numbers in the Gladbach attack, then Reyna is bound to produce as well. Those guys probably have the edge on Reyna in terms of consistency and experience, but Reyna has them all beat, including Honorat, on raw talent. Furthermore, as the playmaker in the middle, he’ll get to benefit the most from working with all of them.
Obviously, a lot of what we can expect from Gio Reyna at Gladbach will be determined by his ability to stay healthy. Some of that is down to pure luck, but some of that will be down to Reyna continuing to improve and strengthen his body and fine-tune the aspects of recovery and training that he has no doubt done over the years.
Assuming that’s in place, Reyna has a pretty low bar to clear in terms of starting regularly. Although seven million euros isn’t much to most clubs, it’s a significant investment for Gladbach, who have spent more than that figure just seven times since the start of the 2020/21 season.
So Gladbach have a lot of vested interest in starting him. The current No. 10 is Stoger, who is a great crosser and set piece specialist but not much of an outfield player or playmaker.
I wouldn’t say it’s a guaranteed shot for Reyna to start over Stoger, since that would be disrespectful to the ex-Bochum man, but, yeah, it’s not going to be all that difficult for Reyna to beat him out and should be within the realm of expectation.
Assuming that goes to plan a few weeks into the season, Reyna could be looking at 25-30 starts in the Bundesliga. He averaged 0.34 goals per 90 and 0.20 assists per 90 over the course of 4,000 Bundesliga minutes in his 6 seasons with Dortmund, including 1.30 goals and assists per 90 by the time his last season came to be.
Assuming his rate of goals per 90 increases with age but is then tempered by Gladbach not scoring with the volume of Dortmund, it is realistic to expect him to still be around the rate of a goal in every three games.
20 goal contributions is realistic
But on the flip side, his assists should increase with more experience and a more established, weekly playmaker role. Around 0.30 assists per 90 is a realistic ratio, and, thus, in, say, 30 starts, it’s not out of the realm of possibility for 10 goals and 10 assists to be an achievable ceiling for Reyna’s first season in Monchengladbach.
Now, it may take Reyna time to get back into the swing of things since it’s been a while that he’s been an important player, as he hasn’t started more than six games in a season since the 2020/21 campaign with Dortmund when, oh by the way, he won the DFB Pokal.
If Reyna can net at least 10 goal contributions this season, help the team defensively, mature as a young leader, and help the other players get involved as part of the midfield system, then his first season with Gladbach will be a success.
But we all know that Reyna is an ambitious young man, and he’ll be aiming for more than that. There’s upside in this deal for Reyna to one day lead Gladbach back to European competition (they were in the Champions League in that 2020/21 season, in case you forgot) and be a 10 and 10 playmaker in the Bundesliga. I am bullish on this move, perhaps partially and additionally because the pressure is truly off of him.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.