While Borussia Dortmund has been playing big for weeks and clinching one victory after the other, one thing has become surprisingly quiet: Giovanni Reyna. The US top talent is becoming more and more of an extremely mysterious case at BVB.
Giovanni Reyna is indisputably one of the players in BVB’s offensive department who bring the individual quality with them to decide games. The catch: The 20-year-old was recently ignored several times by his head coach Edin Terzic when it came to the formation of Borussia Dortmund.
In Borussia’s nine competitive games in 2023, Reyna was only on the pitch for 134 minutes, and he was only in the starting XI once. Most recently, he even stewed three times in a row for 90 minutes on the bench. And all that, although it was the young offensive player who helped BVB win with his joker goals against Augsburg (4:3) and Mainz (2:1). Against Freiburg (5:1) he even scored the third goal in a row after being substituted on.
Giovanni Reyna misses the chance of more appearances at BVB
But instead of being recommended for the starting eleven in the long term, things have gone downhill for Reyna in recent weeks. It fits into the picture that it was Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, who came on for him, who scored the Dortmund lead against Werder Bremen (2-0) with the first action.
At that time, the sport.de individual review said: “Didn’t repay the trust. Was often too lethargic on the ball and didn’t play out his qualities in one-on-one – grade: 4.5”. Reyna did not get any further chances of probation afterwards.
BVB: Giovanni Reyna? Edin Terzic becomes clear
Two reasons can be identified for the recent negative development of the 15-time national player, who can not look back on a particularly easy season anyway, as he initially missed a few games with BVB in the first half of the season and then made sure of plenty around the World Cup in Qatar Headlines about a falling out with national team coach Gregg Berhalter.
On the one hand, the competition at Borussia Dortmund has increased significantly since the turn of the year. Head coach Edin Terzic’s team would be unimaginable without Julian Brandt, captain Marco Reus returned after an injury and an infection, and young players like Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Karim Adeyemi raised the bar for further appearances with good performances. Even Donyell Malen, who was hardly a factor in BVB’s offensive game this season, seems to be ahead of him at the moment.
On the other hand, Giovanni Reyna’s training performance does not seem to be sufficient at the moment. At the press conference before the top game against Leipzig, Terzic tried to emphasize the many injury concerns surrounding Reyna in the past few weeks and months and to confirm that the youngster was not entirely “free of symptoms” at the beginning of the year either. But then he added: “He knows exactly what we’re asking of him, what we want from him and what things he needs to do better.”
For Reyna, daily training is now “about staying diligent and patient”. Of course, the door for the noble technician remains open at Borussia Dortmund. “We know what qualities he can bring to the team,” emphasized Edin Terzic. Seems it’s up to Giovanni Reyna alone to solve the case.
Gerrit Kleiböhmer