You sure about that? Reyna got 50 minutes in 4 appearances in Dortmund's last 4 league games before leaving. He got 36 minutes in 3 appearances in Forest's first 4 EPL games since arriving (not counting today)
Sucks to be the type of player he is headed to a relegation fighting team in the winter window. A lot of headwinds against him getting playing time. That said, I've entered the acceptance phase. Just don't get hurt, show out in copa america, and see what happens next club season.
I feel like BigSoccer needs that bot that is on Reddit for the Reyna's where any time Chris Brown is mentioned it automatically responds with the whole excerpt for the situation that happened with him battering Rihanna in the car. The same should be done for the Reyna's...You know...For that federal crime of extortion they attempted on Gregg Berhalter over their son's playing time in a sport. The more I see Gio Reyna, the more he comes off as a whiner to me. I always root for American players to do well, but he may be an exception. It was always a dumb move to go to Nottingham Forest, but if it helps to expedite his rise to mediocrity, then I'm all for it.
The thing his parents did will haunt his career for sure, and he has gone about the aftermath very poorly. He has never addressed it publicly with "I was wrong to do what I did and my parents acted stupidly." He never cleaned it up. Its like a teenagers filthy room still and he refuses to clean it up, so he just lives in it with stinking, rotting food under the bed. I don't want to see him punished, I want to see him learn and grow. However, someone can't grow if they don't want to and they don't have people close to them who help them adapt to new situations. He obviously has poor advisors and mentorship close to him if there would be better responses to adverse situations. Ironically, Berhalter appears to be his best advisor and the Reynas tried to nuke him, which is more and more sickening in retrospect. Reyna is young and still has a bright future, but he has earned nothing. I keep seeing people refer to his "class", but that thinking is presumptuous and hopeful beyond reason. The bigger the talent, the harder the crash. Make no mistake, this is not a player on the rise. He is crashing. The alarm is sounding. Time to wake up, Gio. Time to make some changes and turn it around. Start by apologizing to Berhalter publicly and trying to repair that relationship because it's probably the one you need the most.
I could see Gio and Berhalter reunited at LA Galaxy in 2-3 years. First he’ll have an Eredivisie stint that might get the “Real Madrid is imminent” train rolling again.
He publicly said he let his emotions get the best of him and affect his behavior and training in Qatar. This was after the Berhalter reveal. He apologized to his teamates at the time and was forgiven/ allowed to stay. This stuff should've been kept in the locker room.
He has never publicly apologized to Berhalter or admitted that he and his parents acted stupidly. He has never fully accepted the L. Its his L. Its a major L. That would be a good place to start because Berhalter's handling of him has been first rate and has been more than merciful. Berhalter is the obvious adult.
If Gio had gotten on a trajectory like CP, Wes, Bradley or even just a semi-regular starter, consistent minute contributing player in the Bundesliga, the backstory would be less prominent, but combine that with his surprisingly challenging club career path since then and it looms much larger. It is quite frustrating that a player of his obvious talent seems to hit so many speed bumps. Hope he can sort it out and get a chance to show his abilities sometime soon.
He needs to address the character piece, because it has been a hindrance thus far. Coaches don’t play him. The part that is confusing about that for most is that they can see he is talented and they can’t see why he doesn’t play. I’d argue that they have already seen why coaches do not depend on him. It’s because they do not want to depend on him. If he would do something like that in Qatar, he would do it at Nottingham Forest, Dortmund, or wherever else. There was interest in him enough for managers to call to ask about the character issue themselves, and several managers lost interest after those calls. There is something to that. Gio is not assuaging their trepidations and they aren’t seeing him as worth the risk. This will only be exacerbated by the Nottingham Forest loan. Gio’s agent needs to get to work on his public image and his professionalism.
Is there any confirmation he actually got a “small knock in training” and that it wasn’t just a euphemism for being dropped by the coach?
He needs to publicly apologize to GB for his parents? Why? Gio took his L already If Berhalter had been an adult we wouldn’t know about any of this or still be talking about it. I’m fine with his slow mending of burned bridges but be honest, his rehiring was contingent on being able to act like an adult and he still dragged feet before contacting Reyna (and others in the pool he’d mismanaged)
At the same point in his career, Christian Pulisic was in the middle of scoring 11 goals in 34 appearances for Chelsea and about to embark on a Champions League winning season. People have crazy ideas about the kind of player Gio is going to be.
Why should he publicly apologize to Berhalter when he apologized at the time? Why should he apologize for his parents? Berhalter and him seem to be fine now.
I have no idea what's going on with Gio. He has a fantastic skill set. Why doesn't he play? By way of analogy, I had the same thoughts about Freddy Adu. Is Gio following the Freddy route? Coaches did/do not respect their skill sets enough to give them sufficient minutes. Something serious is wrong. I have no clue, but am beginning to believe that Gio has a major glitch in his pro soccer makeup, as did Freddy. Whether those two individuals had/have the same glitch is doubtful, but they may have career failure as the common end point. Whatever. It sucks in both cases. It will be quite ironic, IMHO, if Berhalter ends up being the only pro coach who can manage Gio and get the best out of him. I don't think Gio has a lot of opportunities remaining.
This is certainly one potential outcome for Gio. IMO, at this point, this is the most likely outcome; perhaps he and Aaronson can join forces in MLS, and thrill the so-called "Independent Supporters Group" of some team or another when they're announced. Maybe columbus when they open their new stadium? Or maybe whatever club that engages in the right amount of calvinball. Or, Gio can: 1. Find a club that actually still plays with a #10, and that currently doesn't have a #10, and that is willing to take a chance on a guy who has underperformed at BVB, at NFFC, and for the USMNT, 2. Work on his maturity, his professionalism, and his workrate, such that he's not a liability to whatever manager of theoretical manager of whatever theoretical club that will take him and need him, 3. Work on adding an aspect of being able to create key passes and can distribute the ball to his team mates, such that he isn't JUST another dribbler, 4. Lift his level of play by I dunno, a handful of levels, such that he goes from "mediocre" to "actually good, not just theoretically good." The other option is that Gio learns to reinvent his game, such that he plays a role that most clubs play nowadays, rather than his preferred AMC/#10, then do the rest of the list above. Fingers crossed for the young man.
I really wish he had simply gone to Serie A or La Liga. The Premier League may be the best league but it's not the most receptive for our injury prone fellas.
He should be spending his time in England not playing just mainlining videos of de Bruyne, Bruno Fernandes, and Odegaard.
Gotta think the big reason to go to NF was not taking a pay cut. But it seems if he's going to want to get on the field consistently, he's going to have to drop a level which will mean a pay cut. Lower-level Spain or Italy or Eredivisie is going to mean lower pay.