While Jadon Sancho is considering a move to United,
17-year-old American midfielder Giovanni Reyna is establishing
himself in Dortmund. On October 4, in Saturday’s match against
Freiburg, the American prodigy replaced Sancho on the pitch. In the
starting line-up, he distributed three assists and also became the
best in selections and successful strokes. In this article, we will
talk about the talented American, whom the Borussia Dortmund fans
saw off the field with applause.
Tragedy in the family and coming to the New York City
academy
Reyna was born into a football family. His father, Claudio
Reyna, played as a midfielder for Rangers, Sunderland, Manchester
City, and other clubs. And her mother, Daniel Egan, played for the
U.S. women’s team. Giovanni was born in 2002 in Sunderland when his
father played for the Black Cats. Claudio named his son after
former Rangers team-mate Giovanni van Bronckhorst. In 2007, the
family moved to the United States, where Claudio signed with the
New York Red Bulls.
When Gio turned ten, the family had a great tragedy. His older
brother Jack died at the age of 13 from brain cancer. The brothers
were very close, often playing American football, basketball, or
football.
Of course, such a tragedy became a part of Giovanni’s life. It
is not a surprising fact because the brothers had a very close
relationship and at some point, it determined his career even
more.
Three years after his brother’s death, Gio began training at the
New York City Academy, where his father worked as a sports
director. In the first match of the youth, he scored a hat-trick,
and head coach Patrick Vieira compared Reyna to David Trezeguet, a
prophetic young footballer with a great future. The young Americans
continued to shine, which drew the attention of European clubs.
Why did Giovanni choose Dortmund?
Dortmund scouts first saw the player in action at a tournament
in Philadelphia in the fall of 2017. Giovanni himself claims that
he became interested in several European clubs after a successful
performance in Florida as part of the U.S. national under-16 team.
Borussia Dortmund followed his development closely and waited until
he was 17. Even then Reyna attracted the attention of scouts Ajax,
Bayern, and several English Premier League clubs.
Another reason for joining Dortmund was a factor in Haaland and
Sancho. When you have such young players in the team it is always
encouraging for other players to join. In particular, Haaland’s
factor was more motivating for Reyna. As soon as the latter
appeared in the starting lineup Norwegian immediately became a
mentor-like figure for the youngster. Haaland himself is very young
but he has far more experience, let alone he scored a lot of goals
in the Champions League. Their tandem quickly became an interesting
subject for the Norwegian odds pages, known among local citizens as
odds sider, who started featuring both of
the players in duo. And as Haaland was a pivotal figure in
increasing the popularity of Dortmund in Norway, Gio has also
become a loveable figure in Scandinavia.
As soon as the footballer turned 17, Reyna was granted
Portuguese citizenship, thanks to his grandmother, who had
Portuguese roots. Gio himself accepted the offer of Dortmund, who
set an example to the young player the career development of
Christian Pulisic, Ousmane Dembele, and Jadon Sancho.
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Borussia Dortmund head coach Lucien Favre immediately began to
involve the American player in training with the first team. But
Giovanni managed to make his Bundesliga debut only in early 2020
when he moved to the main line-up of the club. He appeared on the
pitch against Augsburg (3-5) at the age of 17 years and
66 days, becoming the youngest American ever to play in the German
league.
Two weeks later, Giovanni Reina scored the first goal in a
Dortmund shirt in a cup game against Werder Bremen (3-2). This time
he became the youngest goalscorer in the history of the German
Cup.
Dortmund striker Erling Haaland, impressed by the performance of
his team-mate, crumbled in compliments to Gio, calling him the
“American Dream.”
Erling said that while “he’s only 17 years old, at such a young
age, Gio is so calm to handle the ball and play for such a big
team”. Indeed, It’s very interesting to see how calm he is. Reyna
is not worried at all, he just breaks into the match. He’s a
terrific talent. It’s a good thing he’s in a proper team. Reyna can
enter the elite of world football.
This season Favre has continued to involve the 17-year-old in
the starting line-up. In the 1st round match of the Bundesliga
against Borussia Monchengladbach (3-0), Giovanni took the field in
the starting line-up, scored his debut goal in the German league,
and earned a penalty, which was successfully scored by Erling
Haaland. Most interestingly, 17-year-old footballer Jude Bellingham
also gave the assist to Reyna.
Last Saturday, Gio recalled himself, giving up three assists against Freiburg (4-0). The
young American assisted Haaland twice and gave another assist to
Emre Can. According to WhoScored, Giovanni was the best in the
number of selections (4) and successful strokes (4), receiving the
highest score for the match – 9.8.
Reyna wants to play for the U.S. national team
Giovanni Reyna had several options for which country to
represent internationally: Argentina (because of his father’s
family), England (born there), Portugal (has citizenship of this
country), and the United States.
In March of this year, Giovanni made a choice, making it clear
that he wanted to play only for the U.S. national team.
The 17-year-old said that everything was clear to me and he will
only play for the United States of America because it is his
home.
Gio has already been involved in the U.S. youth team, and now
looks forward to being called up to the country’s main team.
The post Giovanni Reyna – another prodigy appears at
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