Reyna was front and center in Dortmund’s CWC marketing campaign, but his on-field role remains limited – casting doubt on his future
After a disappointing 2024-25 campaign in which Gio Reyna made just 16 Bundesliga appearances for Borussia Dortmund, there appeared to be a shift in tone heading into the summer. With the Club World Cup set to kick off in his home country, the United States, Dortmund prominently featured Reyna in its pre-tournament marketing. He appeared in social media promos, starred in the club’s flashy kit launch, and even sat down for an interview with FIFA.com ahead of the tournament.
Naturally, expectations followed. When a player becomes the face of a campaign, fans anticipate more than a cameo. It’s like seeing Brad Pitt plastered across movie trailers – you expect him to play a major role, not show up for a single scene. For many, that’s the draw.
But in Reyna’s case, the spotlight faded quickly. Across Dortmund’s first two group-stage matches – draws against Fluminense and a narrow win over Mamelodi Sundowns – he remained on the bench. On Matchday 3, he finally saw the pitch, coming on for a late 12-minute stint in a dull 1–0 victory over Ulsan HD.
Now, as Dortmund prepare for the Round of 16, Reyna finds himself at a crossroads. At just 22, the American midfielder’s time with the club seems all but over. According to reports, he's been told he has “no future” at Dortmund. If the Club World Cup was the final straw, then it’s time for Reyna – and his camp – to start planning what’s next.
For Reyna's future, both internationally and at the club level, it's time for him to depart the club that gave him a platform and search for bigger and better things. Dortmund have made it clear he's not in the picture, and it's now or never for the midfielder to prove he still has what it takes to compete at a high level.
If Reyna still wants to be a part of the 2026 FIFA World Cup USMNT squad under Mauricio Pochettino, while furthering his career at the same time, he has to prepare for an exit this summer.
GOAL US dives into what this CWC has been like for Reyna, why he sits where he does with the Bundesliga side, the national team implications, and who potential suitors might be.
AFPCWC Poster boy
Ahead of their opening match against Fluminense, he was the first photo in a carousel showing players arriving in the NY/NJ area for the match, while his face was on their pre-game graphic, too.
After the match, FIFA shared that his alma mater came to support him at MetLife Stadium for the match – with 30 representatives, including current students from Green Country Day School, in the stands watching him. The American, however, went unused as a sub in a scoreless draw.
Used as a marketing image for the competition by the German club in the buildup, there was genuine excitement that this might be a competition where Reyna finds himself again. A tournament where he received competitive minutes to show the footballing world that he still has the immense talent he displayed earlier in his career, before things started to head towards the relative standstill he's at currently.
Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case.
After his first appearance on Matchday 3 against Ulsan, manager Niko Kovac noted how competitive the midfield is with the club at the moment, and with that, how Gio has fallen down the pecking order.
"Gio and also Juju [Julien Duranville] played their first couple of minutes during this Club World Cup," manager Niko Kovac said after Dortmund's victory over Ulsan. "We try to give minutes to every single player, of course. We want to win, and in the first half of the match, we put in a top-level performance, so I was ready to bring on new players. In the midfield, we have a high competition.
"There is [a] great set of players, and Gio is one of them. He does have good qualities, but if you look at the other players, I think they are a little bit more ahead."
However, that begs the question, then. If Gio isn't in the picture, why display him as the face of your team in the competition? Why treat him as the poster boy of the franchise for the tournament, only for him to sit on and watch when meaningful matches are being played?
He's had a rough go of it over the past few years, and the handling of all of this only adds to a puzzling situation over the past few years.
AdvertisementAFPReyna's time at BVB: Teen star to benchwarmer
It's been nearly five years since Reyna broke out as a teenage star in Germany, and over the past two, the question needs to be asked: What have we learned about him since then? What has he done to further himself and become a better footballer?
The answer? Relatively little.
It's always been known that he is one of the most talented American players the world has ever seen, but the past two seasons have been nothing but a hindrance to his growth as a footballer. After playing nearly 2,000 minutes during the 2020-21 season for Dortmund, Reyna has played fewer than 2,000 minutes in the last four seasons combined, with the last two in particular really seeing him fall off. Most recently, across the 2024-25 campaign, he played in 16 Bundesliga games, totaling just 341 minutes for the .
From the start of the 2019 season through December 2023, Reyna logged 121 games for Dortmund, scoring 17 goals. In January 2024, he was sent on loan to Premier League side Nottingham Forest, but the move was nothing short of a disaster, as he made just 10 appearances for the club in a period that he will long push to the back of his mind as he grows as a footballer.
Since returning from that loan, he's made 26 appearances for BVB, scoring twice, but nothing has come from it.
Now, just over one year out from the start of the 2025 FIFA World Cup, Reyna is at a standstill.
Getty Images SportGold Cup opportunity thrown aside
The Club World Cup presented itself as an opportunity to give it one last go with Dortmund, but due to FIFA's strict tournament rules, that was really his only option unless BVB didn't include him in their traveling squad for the tournament.
However, if Kovac knew that he wasn't in the midfield picture ahead of the competition, why wasn't he released? Why waste a roster spot on a player who could get meaningful minutes with his national team?
Italian Serie A side Inter did so with midfielder Tajon Buchanan, who did not compete at the CWC with the club, and instead played in the Gold Cup. They released him to do so due to being out of the fold with the senior team, and Reyna's situation isn't all that different. Buchanan played in all six games for Canada this June before their quarterfinal elimination in the Gold Cup, including the June international window.
It's a situation that is a lose-lose for both parties. Reyna doesn't get minutes and likely further hurts any potential transfer value he still has for Dortmund, while the USMNT misses him for a Gold Cup that really could have handed him the confidence boost he needed ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.
ESPN analyst Herculez Gomez, a former U.S. international, added they Reyna has now even fallen out of the first-strength XI with the USMNT behind Malik Tillman, who has been the breakout star of the Gold Cup this summer for Pochettino and his squad. Tillman, who is reportedly on the verge of signing for Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga, has four goals this tournament.
Reyna, meanwhile, last scored for the USMNT in the 2024 CONCACAF Nations League under Gregg Berhalter, and has only received one call-up under the Argentine manager since, in March of this year. During the March camp, Reyna went unused in the semifinals of the 2025 Nations League against Panama, and then logged 21 minutes off the bench in the third-place game against Canada.
However, the Gold Cup roster for the USMNT camp has mainly consisted of second and third-string players. The Dortmund midfielder would have likely had his best shot at impressing Pochettino this window, but instead, has been watching along from the sidelines with the German club.
So now, things are at a standstill. Reyna wasn't given a chance to bolster his transfer value this summer, wasn't handed an opportunity to showcase his talent, and really, hasn't played much over the past year. So with that, where in the world does he end up, and what clubs are willing to take on the risks involved?
Getty Images SportWho's ready to gamble?
In March, it was announced Reyna was leaving his agent Jorge Mendes for ROOF Agency, who also manages Tillman, along with world-class footballers like Virgil Van Dijk and Kai Havertz. With that, this summer will be crucial to finding his next landing spot, and Reyna will be relying on ROOF to find him a spot where he can secure regular playing time at a highly competitive level so that he is at his best before the World Cup next summer in the United States.
A report surfaced in June that three Eredivisie clubs in Ajax, PSV, and Feyenoord, were all offered Reyna. Previous reports in May also surfaced that Brazilian side Flamengo, who were one of the standout performers of this summer's CWC, inquired about his services, while La Liga side Real Sociedad also showed interest.
Former U.S. international and current FOX Soccer analyst Alexi Lalas endorsed a potential move to Sociedad, but claimed that if that transfer were to come to fruition, the 22-year-old would need to answer "through his work."
What we do know about Reyna and this summer, though, is that a move has become an increasingly clear choice that he needs to make. If the midfielder wants to find a way to make himself onto next summer's World Cup roster, the only possible route is through regular playing time. No matter where that arrives, as long as Reyna is allowed to play with a ball at his feet, the opportunity to impress will arrive.