Giovanni Reyna's plan seemed pretty solid. He leaves Borussia Dortmund for a fresh start and heads to Premier League side Nottingham Forest on loan. There, he thought about getting more playing time, which would help him reach peak form ahead of this summer's Copa América with the United States men's national team.
Put in some impressive performances for Forest and you could get the big move you've been dreaming of. It couldn't be worse than staying at Dortmund, where he played just 302 minutes in 13 league and cup games… right?
No. It's fair to say that Reyna's time with Forest has been a failure, with 230 minutes played in just nine Premier League games (only two of them starts) since his move four months ago.
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As a result, Reyna has not reaped any of the expected benefits from her move. Instead, he entered an unknown league and joined a new team that could not invest time in a new loan as their battle to avoid relegation was a priority. Instead of giving representatives to Reyna, Forest's more senior attackers, such as Morgan Gibbs-White, Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi, got the nod.
As understandable as that approach was for the club, it has been disappointing and frustrating for Reyna.
“He has been training well and is a lovely boy, but the team was in a difficult cycle, fighting against relegation and the coach has already prioritized players with Premier League experience,” a source close to the club told ESPN. .
With one game left in Forest's season, their place in the Premier League is all but confirmed for next year – they will narrowly escape relegation as long as they don't lose by a massive margin this weekend. Reyna's future, however, seems much less certain. Jeff Carlisle, Julien Laurens and Constantin Eckner explain how he ended up at this crossroads heading into a pivotal summer for him and the US men's national team.
Both Dortmund and Reyna's former agency, Wasserman Media Group, were not initially in favor of sending Reyna to England, but Reyna's father, former US international Claudio Reyna, was a strong supporter of the deal, according to a source close to Reyna. Forest.
There was some logic behind the choice. Forest technical director Nuno Espirito Santo was thought to be an ally in the move. The manager and Gio Reyna share the same agent, Jorge Mendes, and one of the reasons why the player chose Forest ahead of interest from Marseille, Sevilla or Wolves was because of Nuno's presence at the club.
Unfortunately, it never clicked. Reyna's best performance came in April against Wolves, where he started, played 71 minutes and scored an assist, the only goal contribution he has made at Forest. He did not enter the vital May 4 match against fellow relegation candidate Sheffield United, a 3-1 victory that helped secure his place in the English top flight.
With no permanent option available, Nottingham Forest are not looking to retain Reyna for next season, either through a new loan or a transfer, the same source told ESPN.
Now Reyna finds himself stuck, likely returning to Dortmund, where he may have to compete again for first-team minutes for some of the same players who were preferred to him the last time he was there during the first half of the season.
BVB is closely following Reyna's time at Forest and is aware that the loan agreement has not been satisfactory for anyone. Before the agreement with Forest, Dortmund extended Reyna's contract until 2026 because the Bundesliga club wanted to keep all its options open. However, Dortmund have yet to decide what to do with Reyna upon his return.
The American playmaker's immediate future depends on whether other midfielders and wingers (mainly Donyell Malen and Jadon Sancho) remain at the club.
Malen, who has at times been Dortmund's standout attacking player over the past two seasons, has long been linked with a move to England. Meanwhile, Sancho has only been on loan from Manchester United and Dortmund would have to pay a substantial sum to retain the England winger with a permanent return to the club that launched his career. Perhaps a boost to Reyna's chances will be Marco Reus' recent announcement that he will leave the club at the end of this season.
However, Dortmund's concerns with Reyna go beyond competition. The club's top brass have been regularly frustrated by their inconsistent progress since 2022, even if it was partly due to injuries.
When Christian Pulisic left for Chelsea in 2019, Dortmund were hoping to already have the next future American star on their books. Through four summer tours and several marketing campaigns, Dortmund worked hard to establish the club as a major soccer brand in the United States. BVB have therefore tended to offer Reyna more freedom than other young players, in the hope that he will become the face of Dortmund's global presence.
However, the club could run out of patience, although BVB still believes in Reyna's potential, a source told ESPN. If Reyna wants to come back and play for Dortmund next season, his best ally may prove to be Lars Ricken, the veteran director of Dortmund's youth academy who has just been promoted to CEO. But even if Ricken is in favor of giving Reyna another chance, another loan next season is once again a possibility.
At the international level, Reyna's place with the United States appears secure despite a lack of playing time at the club level this year.
Reyna and American coach Gregg Berhalter appear to have put aside the post-World Cup dispute that threatened to undermine their careers. In March, Reyna deservedly won the Player of the Tournament award in the Concacaf Nations League, contributing one goal and two assists in two games, including the decisive goal in the final against rival Mexico. This summer's Copa América will provide Reyna with the kind of platform that can reignite her career.
That said, Berhalter also has longer-term considerations: the most important being the 2026 World Cup and building a team that can overcome the USMNT's elimination in the round of 16 of the last World Cup. Chance creation was the U.S. team's biggest weakness in the Qatar tournament, and Reyna is the key for the United States to improve in that area.
For that reason, Berhalter will be eager to see Reyna improve his game by getting the type of stable playing time that the player has been lacking over the past few seasons. It seems unlikely that, given Reyna's talent, he will acquire that dreaded team player nickname that he never plays. But if he wants to become the player he and the USMNT want him to be, he will need to resolve his club situation.
A big part of that for Reyna will be choosing more wisely than he did in January when he went to Forest.
