Why Giovanni Reyna is Entering a Make-or-Break Chapter at Strasbourg | OneFootball

With just three weeks remaining in the summer transfer window, we’ve already seen quite a few American players join new clubs. Diego Kochen has moved Lyngby on loan via Barcelona, and Max Arfsten and Sebastian Berhalter have joined Aidan Morris at Middlesbrough. Bryan Reynolds has made the move from Westerlo to Rennes, whilst another player who’s looking to start fresh in northern France is Giovanni Reyna.

Giovanni Reyna Early Years

The son of Claudio and Danielle Reyna, who represented the United States men’s and women’s national teams, respectively, Giovanni spent the first five years of his life in England in Sunderland and Manchester before heading across the pond and settling in New York as his father closed out his career with the Red Bulls.

However, he didn’t join the NYRB academy, but their crosstown rivals New York City FC, where he played from 2015 to 2019 before deciding to return to Europe. He joined Borussia Dortmund, one of the foremost talent developers in the continent, where he sought to follow in the footsteps of Christian Pulisic and become the latest BVB player to earn a big-money move.

Time With Dortmund

Reyna enjoyed a stellar start to life in Germany, surpassing Pulisic as the youngest American to play in the Bundesliga and becoming the youngest goalscorer in the history of the DFB-Pokal. Nine minutes after becoming the third-youngest player to play in a UEFA Champions League knockout match, Reyna assisted Erling Haaland’s game-winning goal vs. Paris Saint-Germain, thus becoming the youngest American to play and record an assist in a Champions League fixture.

Reyna made 18 appearances in 2019/20 and looked set to start his first Bundesliga match in the Revierderby against Schalke 04 on May 16, but he suffered a calf injury during warm-ups. As he would come to find out, this would not be a one-off, but a sign of things to come.

He enjoyed a career-best season in 2020/21, racking up 4 goals and 5 assists in 32 Bundesliga appearances (23 starts) and leapfrogging Pulisic as the youngest American to appear (and win) in a domestic cup final in Europe. Reyna finished sixth in the voting for the 2021 Kopa Trophy, an award given to the best U21 player in the world and selected by a jury of former Ballon d’Or winners.

Amongst the five players who finished above him in the voting, Pedri (#1) and Gavi (#5) added a World Cup to their trophy cabinet this summer. Jude Bellingham (#2) emerged as a vital cog for England and Real Madrid, leading Real to a La Liga + Champions League double in his maiden season, and steering England to their best World Cup in 60 years. Jamal Musiala (#3) has already accumulated six Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich, whilst Florian Wirtz (#4) steered Bayer Leverkusen to their first-ever Bundesliga title before a big money move to Liverpool.

Tough Going after 2021

Unlike Dortmund alumni Bellingham, Haaland, Pulisic, and Ousmane Dembélé, Reyna never managed to make the jump from promising talent to unstoppable superstar. After a strong start which saw him replace Jadon Sancho as BVB’s new #7 and become the youngest player to reach 50 Bundesliga appearances, Reyna ran into his first major roadblock in September 2021.

Reyna suffered a severe right hamstring and thigh injury while playing for the USMNT against El Salvador in a World Cup qualifier, and tendon and nerve involvement significantly delayed his rehabilitation. After finally returning in February 2022 against Borussia Mönchengladbach, he lasted just a half-hour before suffering a recurrence of the hamstring injury.

He returned in March, lasting a month until awkwardly planting his foot and suffering a severe tendon injury in his hamstring/thigh just 77 seconds into a match vs. Stuttgart. Reyna decided to shut up shop for the season after 10 league appearances and focus on getting fit for the 2022 World Cup. But his time in Qatar would be remembered far more for what he did off the pitch than on it.

Qatar World Cup

Prior to the tournament, USMNT manager Gregg Berhalter informed Reyna that he would have a limited role off the bench, prompting him to exhibit a lack of effort and poor attitude during training sessions. The coaching staff held a vote among player leadership to decide whether to send Reyna home, and he only received a reprieve after apologizing to his teammates and coaches for his behavior.

He logged 52 total minutes as a substitute across four matches before heading back to Germany. Meanwhile, Berhalter left his post after his contract’s expiry, before speaking at a leadership conference about an unnamed player whose lack of commitment almost led to him being sent home from Qatar. Although he did not explicitly state Reyna’s name, media reports quickly confirmed the subject of the comments.

Furious at the perceived mistreatment of their son, Danielle and Claudio contacted U.S. Soccer officials and disclosed details of a 1991 physical altercation between Berhalter and his then-girlfriend (now wife), Rosalind, when they were college students. U.S. Soccer launched an independent investigation into the matter before deciding to re-hire him as USMNT head coach in 2023.

Injury Continues to Stall his Resurgence

To his credit, Reyna managed to put this controversy in the rearview mirror, racking up a career-best 7 goals (five as a substitute). And if he had started on the final day, BVB might have beaten Mainz and secured their first championship in 11 years. Instead, he assisted two goals off the bench as BVB erased a 2-0 deficit, but he was unable to engineer a third in a heartbreaking stalemate.

However, just when it seemed that he was ready to step into a leading role for Dortmund, Reyna suffered a hairline fracture in his fibula during the 2023 Concacaf Nations League Final against Canada and didn’t return for three months. By this point, Edin Terzić’s patience had run out, and Reyna found opportunities harder and harder to come by.

It’s why, after extending his BVB contract, Reyna was loaned to Premier League outfit Nottingham Forest, where he struggled to convince and ended the 2023/24 season with 0 goals in 24 appearances across all competitions.

International Achievements

He did, however, continue his impressive displays on the international front. He provided two assists in the 2023 CONCACAF Nations League Final win over Canada, and was named Man of the Match. One year later in the same event, he scored against Mexico and again winning Man of the Match, as well as the tournament’s Golden Ball award.

He started all three matches as the USA crashed out of the 2024 Copa América group stage on home soil, before sustaining a left groin strain in a USMNT training session in September 2024.

Playing time decline & struggles

Due to that injury, he missed 77 days of action in the 2024/25 season and sank further and further down the Dortmund pecking order. He finished the season with only 25 appearances, scoring twice and assisting once.

Reyna’s Borussia contract meant he was unable to take part in the 2025 Gold Cup, due to the scheduling conflict with the FIFA Club World Cup. But he only made one substitute appearance vs. Ulsan in the group stage, playing for 12 minutes.

He got the message and decided to leave BVB. Borussia Mönchengladbach narrowly beat out Serie A club Parma to his signature. It proved to be a horizontal step, with Reyna choosing the comfort of the Bundesliga as well as the chance to play alongside USMNT teammate and ex-NYCFC academy friend Joe Scally. Reyna failed to make his presence felt with Die Fohlen, mustering just 19 appearances (four starts) and scoring just once in 2025/26.

2026 World Cup

Nevertheless, this didn’t stop Mauricio Pochettino from calling him up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup ahead of more in-form MLS stars like Zavier Gozo and Diego Luna. And whilst he kicked off proceedings in sensational style with a trivela goal off the bench vs. Paraguay, he failed to build on that momentum.

After coming on for the final minutes vs. Australia, Reyna struggled in midfield when given a rare start vs. Türkiye before playing just a few seconds vs. Bosnia & Herzegovina. He came on at halftime vs. Belgium but failed to transmit any sense of calm and authority on the ball, as the Red Devils scored two more goals and demolished the co-hosts 4-1 in Seattle.

Move to Strasbourg Offers a Chance…

Now, Reyna is headed to his fourth different club since the spring of 2024, having joined Strasbourg for $3.5 million. On paper, this should prove to be an intriguing fit, with Reyna capable of slotting into a number of positions under new manager Hugo Oliveira. But with Julio Enciso filling in up top for the injured Joaquín Panichelli, and Diego Moreira, Sebastian Nanasi and Martial Godo forming a fearsome attack, it’s clear that Reyna is going to have to work his way from the bench into the starting XI.

While he has a contract through 2031, this is a make-or-break season. At nearly 24, Reyna should be entering the prime of his career. Instead, he’s stagnated thanks to a recurring cycle of soft-tissue injuries (hamstring, groin, and calf strains) prompting him to miss over 500 days and 80 matches for club and country. It remains to be seen if he can rediscover the same explosive burst that accompanied his meteoric breakthrough at the start of the decade.

…if He Can Stay Fit

Part of Reyna’s decline is fitness-related, and part of it is positional-related. As a classic central attacking midfielder, Reyna thrives in tight spaces, possessional tempo, and final-third execution. But in a European footballing elite that increasingly prioritizes high-intensity pressing, defensive work rate, and athletic transition play, he has struggled to find his niche.

At Dortmund, he faced direct competition from high-performing creators like Julian Brandt and Marco Reus, while his moves to Forest and Gladbach failed to offer the tactical framework to highlight his strengths. There’s genuine optimism that he can wrestle his way into the starting XI — ideally as the #10 in Strasbourg’s 4-2-3-1 — but first, he’s going to have to stay fit.

From Habib Diarra to Valentín Barco to Mamadou Sarr to Dilane Bakwa, we’ve seen various Strasbourg players catapult themselves to stardom and earn big-money transfers in recent years, and Reyna will certainly be looking to do the same. If he is unable to get his career back on track at the Stade de la Meinau, then it might just be a matter of time before he ends his European football journey and makes a new go of it in Major League Soccer.