Nottingham Forest was meant to be the scene of Gio Reyna’s redemption. Instead, it’s become yet another torture chamber for the USA international.
Reyna has failed to make an impact at the City Ground since joining the Premier League club on loan from Borussia Dortmund in the January transfer window. Indeed, Reyna has played just 38 Premier League minutes for his new team. He has been a peripheral figure under Nuno Espirito Santo, and to make matters worse, the 21-year-old missed Forest’s most recent match against Liverpool through injury. Reyna just can’t escape the current cycle of tedium.
Of course, there were concerns with Reyna’s move to Nottingham Forest as soon as it was confirmed. They play a counter-attacking style that never appeared a good fit for Reyna. On top of this, Forest’s best player is Morgan Gibbs-White who operates in Reyna’s favoured position – number 10.
Reyna is capable of playing on either wing, but Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi are better suited to playing on the break. This isn’t to say Elanga and Hudson-Odoi are necessarily better, more talented players than Reyna – it’s just that they are being harnessed in a way that has never been afforded to their new American teammate.
There is still time for Reyna’s situation to change. Forest still have 11 league matches to play this season, giving the American the opportunity to break his way into Nuno’s lineup. While frustrating, Reyna’s latest injury isn’t expected to be a serious one and so he should be back in the Nottingham Forest squad soon enough.
Even if Reyna is able to get more game time between now and the end of the season, though, this summer presents him with a crossroads in his career. Most agree he should leave Dortmund permanently, but the loan to Forest highlights how Reyna must make the right choice when the time comes to move on permanently from the Westfalenstadion.
History is full of examples of extremely talented players whose careers fizzled out because of the bad decisions they made. If there’s one thing Reyna must take away from the last month or so at Nottingham Forest, it’s the realisation that he can’t just pick a club and hope for the best. He needs to find a team and an environment that suits him.
Borussia Monchengladbach have been linked with Reyna in the past and there’s good reason to believe their style of play would bring the best out of the 21-year-old. Sevilla were also believed to be interested in Reyna in the January transfer window and they too play a game that would be a better fit for the American than Nottingham Forest’s.
It’s not so long ago that Reyna was widely seen as the most talented American player of his generation. Expectations of the youngster were extremely high after he broke through at Dortmund as a teenager and many predicted he would go on to become the greatest American soccer player in history.
Now, it seems unlikely Reyna will reach those heights. He is still young, but he must use the frustrating experiences of the last three seasons as fuel to prove his critics wrong. The talent remains, and it could be that it simply needs an opportunity to rise to the surface. Nottingham Forest haven’t been willing to give him that.
While Reyna has struggled to make much of an impression in club soccer recently, his performances for the US men’s national team in 2023 were encouraging. He has been re-integrated into the squad after the fall-out between Gregg Berhalter and his family – and has played well.
Ultimately, this is where Reyna will be judged as an American star. Even on his current trajectory he will almost certainly be a key figure for the USMNT at the 2026 World Cup on home soil. Reyna is one of the players who could help Berhalter achieve progress after making the round of 16 at the last World Cup.
Every American soccer fan has an opinion on Reyna, but there is a growing consensus around him at the moment. Borussia Dortmund is no longer the right place for him and Nottingham Forest certainly hasn’t been since joining on loan. If Reyna can stay fit and find a team willing to build around him, he could still fulfil his potential.
