Unfortunately when you are injury prone it doesn’t help. He won German Footballer of the year in 2019 so he can still be tremendous when fit.
Perhaps, but Rubin was getting a decent bit of heat in his yoof although I was thinking more in terms style/position. Gio certainly looks much better now, with Rubin's post 18 career in hindsight, but in 2014 when he was getting his first call-ups he looked like he could become a decent "power-10" or creative 9 1/2. Gio seems more comfortable a bit deeper in the midfield, which helps him positionally, but they have a similarity to their game. Gio is way ahead of where Rubin as at this age skill-wise, however. He should pan out much better.
No matter what position, Rubin never looked better than potential above average MLS player. As of now he is way below those expectations.
Yeah, no doubt he would struggle to get a decent MLS transfer now. But the expectations/hopes for him when was coming up at 17/18 were higher. I don't think his skill was ever at Gio's level. He was never as comfortable with his back to the goal or as deep in midfield as Gio is. But he had some skills and was looking like he might develop into a respectable 10/ 9-1/2. But this is not a Rubin thread and whatever his potential, the injury and club choices were clearly not helpful. I have no doubt Reyna's career will be miles ahead of where RR would have been, even without doing his ankle
First half of his first season with Utrecht. Five assists and two goals in few minutes. For a few weeks, specially with those assists, he looked poised to become our creative guy for the 14-18 cycle.
And for 3 minutes, his stock was high in the eyes of the USMNT as well. It was probably as much about a lack of options as anything, but he had a moment. Doubt he would ever have fullfilled the promise, even if he hadn't done the ankle, but we will never know.
We get it, you really don't like the comparison that hasn't directly been made yet by anyone, but allow me carry it forward lol. KDB has been my favorite player in the world about four years now, big fan. I hadn't consciously thought of any resemblance between Gio and KDB until @twoolley posted. The one thing I distinctly remember about De Bruyne's early days in the Bundesliga, the one thing that repeatedly jumped off the screen both at Werder Bremen and later at Wolfsburg, was how effortlessly he found pockets to receive on the half turn in midfield. After that turn in space, you could just see his brain working through the pixels, even if he didn't yet always have the confidence, ability, or teammates to execute on it. I find it kind of funny that in this thread the past 6 months or so, very similar observations have consistently been made about Gio.
Nice post, but I'm not sure you do get it. While it's true that I'm not a big fan of such player comparisons, and I certainly prefer our players to establish their own identities, their own points of reference, their uniqueness, I recognize the shorthand value of analyzing similar styles, strengths, etc. Also, I enjoy watching Kevin De Bruyne - Wiki uses a capital D - and comparing Reyna to KdB = I visually prefer a lower case d when I abbreviate his name - is very flattering. But primarily I posted because I saw an opportunity to riff off the lyrics of Patsy Cline's Crazy. If you got that, then you got it.
Dortmund is broadcasting their first preseason training on YouTube, with interludes of pre-recorded content. This is very entertaining.
Thanks for posting naopon. Most of the action is in the scrimmage towards the end. Gio scores around the 1:06 minute and is part of some nice connection passes around 1:14. Interesting to see the different camera angles... including the drones... but I would rather just watch the scrimmage from on high uninterrupted. I assume there will be more to come. I hope they don't put this stuff behind the pay wall like Barca.
Gio Reyna starts for BVB in a friendly https://t.co/gphNhUsrbm— Travis Clark (@travismclark) August 12, 2020 reyna starts this friendly which is streaming on espn3. did the legwork so you didnt have to and found that altach ranks #333 in 538s club rankings, smack between rbny and puebla
Google shows Gio playing in the middle of the park behind Haland in what would appear to be the #10 role. Is this what those who are really watching see?