US National Gio Reyna Looking to Play Bigger Role for Borussia Dortmund

Gio Reyna of Borussia Dortmund controls the ball during the Bundesliga match between SV Werder Bremen and Borussia Dortmund at Wohninvest Weserstadion in Bremen, Germany, on Feb. 11, 2023. Martin Rose/Getty Images

Gio Reyna, an attacking midfielder of the U.S. Men’s National Team, has recently struggled to find his footing at the club level.

However, he now might have found a home at the German Bundesliga side, Borussia Dortmund, where he signed as a 17-year-old in 2020.

Borussia Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl confirmed the club is committed to Reyna for the upcoming season and that he is not available in the transfer market. The key now is for Reyna to show that he can be a consistent performer for the venerable German side.

Reyna is off to an effective start this season, entering in the 81st minute in Dortmund’s 2–0 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga opener on Saturday.

“Gio could become very important for us this season,“ Kehl said in an interview this week with Bild, a German media company. ”There are no other thoughts. There’s nothing on the table and I haven’t heard that the player wants to leave. He worked on himself, worked on his stability, worked on his confidence. His clever movement between the lines and his goal threat, he’s developed that further.”

Reyna had an encouraging start at Dortmund when he signed with the club from New York City FC in Major League Soccer. At age 17, Reyna became the youngest player to appear in a Bundesliga game when he made his Dortmund debut against FC Augsburg in January 2020.

In September 2020, Reyna scored his first Bundesliga goal in a 3–0 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach, and he made regular appearances for the club.

On Oct. 28, 2020, Reyna became the youngest American—17 years and 350 days—to start in the UEFA Champions League in Dortmund’s 2–0 group stage win against Zenit St. Petersburg, breaking Christian Pulisic’s record set for the same club in 2016 by just 12 days.

Also, in 2020, Reyna made his U.S. Men’s National Team debut and was voted the U.S. Soccer’s Young Male Player of the Year.

However, his career took a downturn in 2021 when he dealt with illnesses and various injuries to his thigh and hamstring that kept him sidelined for more than 30 of Dortmund’s matches. He could not fully recapture the early success at the German club, and his playing time gradually decreased, which prompted questions about his future.

Reyna also had a challenging time with the U.S. Men’s National Team at the 2022 World Cup, where he played just 52 minutes in four matches and clashed with coach Gregg Berhalter, who was fired from the position in July.

On Jan. 31, 2024, Reyna was loaned to English Premier League side Nottingham Forest to get more playing time and boost his productivity. Instead, he appeared in just nine league matches, covering 230 minutes, with just two starts at the club.

Now, Reyna is back at Dortmund, hoping to prove that he can be a valuable player and consistent contributor to the team. It initially appears that Reyna will get every opportunity to showcase his talent, and Dortmund is counting on him to be a key contributor either off the bench or as a starter.

“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,” Kehl told Bild.