Giovanni Reyna: up-and-coming BVB talent "more complete" than Pulisic, football in his DNA

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Giovanni Reynas talent appears as to the manner born: shortly before the 1994 World Cup in their hown country, America‘s internationals Claudio Reyna and Danielle Egan met. Giovanni was born eight years later in Sunderland, England, where his father worked for the AFC. "He is practically Soccer Royalty, as the saying goes in America," explains Manuel Veth, Area Manager Transfermarkt US.

Football also mattered in finding the name: Father Claudio named his second son after Giovanni van Bronckhorst. Between 1999 and 2001, Austin FC's current director played for the Glasgow Rangers with the Dutch star Reyna. A close friendship was built. Nonetheless, Reyna‘s son initially had other ideas than football.

Common games Claudio Reyna and van Bronckhorst together on the pitch Complete shared stats Up until the age of 8 Reyna junior successfully played basketball. The 17-year-old still is a big fan of the sport, although at the age of 9 he dared to switch to football and into the youth ranks of New York Soccer Club. At the age of twelve, he finally made his way to the academy of the MLS club New York City FC, where his father was the director from 2013 to last November.

It quickly became clear that Reyna inherited his parents' talent. In April 2017, at the age of 14, he led the NYCFC U17s to winning the Generation Adidas Cup while young Reyna was recognized as the best player of the tournament. Shortly thereafter, he contributed four goals and four assists at USA’s U15 victory in the prestigious youth tournament Torneo delle Nazioni. As a 15-year-old, Reyna also quickend the interest of many top European clubs by scoring 13 goals in 17 games for NYCFC’s youth team in the 2017-18 season.

The then coach of the NYCFC MLS team, Patrick Vieira, immediately noticed Reyna‘s talent, whom he compared with his former French team-mate David Trezeguet. But Reyna's ability for long sprints, rushing into the opponent's box to score, appears to be more reminiscent of former Seleção star Kaká. Next to Zinedine Zidane, Neymar, Kevin de Bruyne and Kai Havertz, the Brazilian is one of Reyna‘s favorite footballers. Reyna is a true offensive all-rounder with speed and a keen eye for the dream cross.

“He's a lot more an athlete than I was, a lot more a goal scorer“, father Claudio once said about his offspring. “He is technically very good and has a good sense for the game. He has great free kicks and can always hit a ball well. Danielle was a great runner - and he's a runner“. Vieira said: “He has a strong physical presence for a child and his understanding of the game is really good. He can score goals and understands the tactical requirements of the game. He is a really smart boy and has shown some really good stuff.“ Reyna describes himself as entertaining, creative, unselfish on and off the pitch.

Like his father, who was under contract at Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg from 1994 to 1999, Reyna chose Germany as the destination for his first steps in Europe and followed his compatriot Christian Pulisic into the youth of Borussia Dortmund four years later.

"The boy is damn good. He could have signed with any club in the world, but in the end he chose Borussia Dortmund,” said BVB-U17 coach Sebastian Geppert in an interview with Veth. "We wanted him last winter, but there were a few problems with the change permit." Reyna showed no difficulties to adjust at the U19 of Dortmund. He scored 16 goals or assists in 16 competitive games so far and excels in the offense with striker Youssoufa Moukoko and Immanuel Pherai.

Also BVB’s Bundesliga coach Lucien Favre has an eye on Reyna. The youngster was allowed to join the US tour with the first team in last summer and stood up in the preparatory games i.e. against Liverpool, so that he also completed the training camp with the professional squad. “Gio is already very good, he made a strong first impression. He also has no problems with the way we want to play football,” said Favre. On matchday 14, Reyna gained his seat on the bench for the first time at the 5-0 win against Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Meanwhile, Moritz Wallraf und Niklas Kuhr from the project “BVBJugend“ compare Reyna with predecessor Pulisic, who switched to Chelsea in 2019. “As the comparison with Pulisic is inevitable: For us, Reyna is the more complete player. Most of the experts from the United States agree.” Veth adds: “In the United States, he is already hyped a lot because he has practically no limits as a player and always was ahead in all junior national teams.” 30 years after his father, Reyna represented the USA in October and November at the U17 World Cup in Brazil as captain.