Giovanni “Gio” Reyna US National Team Discussion

If Gladbach won’t give Gio enough playing time to get injured, we’re almost obligated to call him in and do the job ourselves.

 

On a BM forum I was looking at, the fans think they've been sold damaged goods. They want to cut Reyna loose now. Sell him to MLS if there's a sucker to buy him.

No comments from Gladbach leadership have indicated unhappiness with Gio, though.

Its all fans who think they wasted money on him. Even if it wasn't all that much money in the grand scheme of things. They took a risk, and it failed.

 

I see some pay-as-you-play contracts in his future.

 

This is a common problem I have with sports franchises. Nothing wrong with taking a shot and having it not work out. But when it doesn't work out far too often teams hold on to players (and I am not sure why). Whatever contract you have in place with a guy is a sunk cost. You are on the hook for it one way or the other.

I understand keeping a guy you have already paid for but ONLY if you are going to use him. If not then just cut them and get someone else who you actually trust to play and whom might help your team out.

 

There isn’t just cutting the player unless they agree to do so. Also, unfortunately for BMG a $4M transfer fee isn’t small potatoes.

 

This is just hot true. They can cut any player they want to . They still have to pay them per their contract but they do not have to roster a player period.

 

I do think its important to remember that the coach who originally brought Gio to Gladbach was fired in September. This often happens in this sport. A coach wanted a player, he's fired, and the next guy might not have the same feeling about him.

Gio on the Gladbach roster isn't taking playing time from anybody else.

His salary with Gladbach, according to capology anyway........................is not actually that large.
I know its not perfectly accurate, but tells the story.

According to capology he's the 21st highest paid player at Gladbach. He's not paid as an important starter. According to that resource, his salary is less than Scally's.

They could cut him loose without a huge amount of damage to their bottom line. I know they're not PSG, who can afford to flush huge amounts of money down the drain. They're also not the Pittsburgh Riverhounds.

 

Why would they cut him loose and continue to pay him? Gladbach is trying to reduce their wage bill and not sure how this does it. If a club comes in willing to sign him, I’m sure Gladbach would be all ears.

 

They'd do it for the same reason that Dallas just cut Paxton Pomykal and had to eat his salary.

This is years now in which we've been saying the same thing about Gio Reyna.
Oh, he could come back to the same player he was in 2020/2021. At some point we have to stop talking like that. He's an oft-injured player with 0 goals and 1 assist this year across all competitions for a relegation-threatened Bundesliga club. Is that worth what they're paying him???

Obviously Gladbach would try to sell him first. Even at a loss.
They're paying him at a price point that an MLS club might be willing to roll the dice on.
Hell, his contract could be bought down a little bit to not even be a DP in MLS.

 

Pomykal had a knee injury that wasn’t healing for 18 months but most importantly Dallas had an option to buy out his contract.

 

.................and Gio hasn't been the same the leg fracture he suffered on USMNT against Canada.

I'm of the opinion that Gio is broken, and we just don't want to admit it to ourselves.

The whole conversation is reminiscent of how we talked about John O'Brien 20 years ago.

 

They're not going to cut Gio in the first of a 3 year contract. If they want to loan him out MLS is about the only transfer window still open.

 

Like you said though, they've already paid for him and agreed to a contract. Unless another team is willing to pay (or in US sports give them something of value in trade) or unless the player is willing to accept mutual termination of the contract, they have no reason not to keep him around as depth.

 

Well I sort of agree but it depends on what you mean by "keep him around as depth." If by that you mean as player who attends training then I agree. If by that you mean a player who gets rostered on game day then I disagree. I would rather have that roster spot given to a young up and comer whom you might actually PLAY. At the end of the day my point is IF you are not going to ever use him then don't roster him. If you do roster him then give him some minutes.

 

I hate it for him but they'd be roasted if they traded or cut him and had an injury crisis in midfield/ attacking midfield/ wingers etc. His story is one of those greek tragedies but there is still a sliver of hope to keep us interested.

 

They won't now.

........................but they're going to have to figure out what to do in the off-season.

We literally had this conversation over and over during his time at Dortmund.

Do they see a first team path for him or not? Maybe a miracle will happen and he crushes it at the end of this Bundesliga season.

Gladbach's next game is massive. Its St. Pauli at home.

 

In order for it to be a Greek tragedy the "hero" must start from a high place but Gio has NEVER been in a high place. The highest he has ever been is somewhat above average. So it is more like an Oklahoma or West Virginia tragedy.

 

Reyna was once considered among the top prospects in the world, like, he made top 25 lists. He was the youngest player ever to notch 50 appearances in the Bundesliga. He was the youngest player ever to record 3 assists in a Bundesliga match. In 2021 he finished #6 in the Golden Boy rankings.

You are flat out factually wrong here. I don’t understand being as wrong as this in a soccer message board. We are all fanatics here too; why did you think you could post something like this and fool us????

 

In our real world Gio was ranked 3rd on the NXGEN 2021list ahead of players like Pedri, Bellingham, Wirtz, Gravenberch, Musiala, and Musah who was 11th. Ansu Fati was #1 and like Gio injuries have also derailed his career.

https://www.goal.com/en-us/lists/nxgn-2021-50-best-wonderkids-in-football/fnujhhs2t5f31n4r3s3y3l1hh

 

Unrelated:

Andrew Carleton made The Guardian's 2017 "Next Generation" list alongside Erling Haaland, Pedro Neto and Jaden Sancho.

 

Indeed. We don't need to rewrite history here.

Gio has talked about the mental struggles he faced off the field. The heights of the 2020/2021 season to the downs of not being able to play.in 2021 and 2022.
Gio Reyna doesn't want to dwell on his injury-ravaged 2021-22. He's too focused on the 2022 World Cup - ESPN

I've seen interviews with Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland in which they both mentioned Gio as being one of their best friends in the sport. He's in that social network. You can imagine the struggle when your best friends are all excelling. He was on that path with them, and its been a rollercoaster ever since.

We should all feel some level of empathy for Gio. No need to be cruel.......................

 

I think unlike with some of these other lists, the Guardian always allows its US sports editor to select one or two players for the global Next Generation list.

So in 2017 that was Carleton and Tim Weah. In 2018: Konrad de la Fuente. In 2019: Gianluca Busio and Gio Reyna. In 2020: Moses Nyeman. In 2021: Malick Sanogo and Evan Rotundo. In 2022: Reed Baker-Whiting. In 2023: Diego Kochen and Cruz Medina. In 2024: Zavier Gozo and Christian McFarlane. And last year: Julian Hall and Jude Terry.

Carleton's inclusion doesn't seem like a huge outlier to me among all those names.

 

While injuries have continued to be an issue for Gio, the bigger issue for the rest of the year is the fact Gladbach has not been able to create breathing room between themselves and the relegation battle. With a manager whose basically auditioning to have the interim tag removed and a team facing relegation, the question will whether or not he will get the opportunity to help Gladbach the remainder of the season

 

In its matches this calendar year BM is 2-2-5. If I was a manager looking to get the permanent position I would be trying players I haven't been using because 2 wins in my last 9 matches would tell me I ain't cutting it.

 

Yes, a bad result against St Pauli and it really starts getting nervy. The sporting director has stated that the goal of the club this season is to avoid relegation. That is some cold realism! It is a conundrum with Gladbach. They have only scored 5 goals in 2nd half of season but are perfectly capable of giving up a lot of goals so Polanski is prioritizing strong effort on both sides of the ball. That means guys like Neuhaus and Reyna may not get as many minutes although Neuhaus had a good match against St Pauli earlier in season. I don’t know if Gladbach can afford a manager change at this point.