US midfielder Gio Reyna joins Nottingham Forest on loan but extends Dortmund contract
FILE - United States head coach Gregg Berhalter, left, talks to midfielder Gio Reyna (7) during the first half of an international friendly soccer match against Ghana, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. Berhalter understands why Reyna may leave Borussia Dortmund during the January transfer window. The 21-year-old midfielder has started just one Bundesliga match this season, playing the first half at Eintracht Frankfurt on Oct. 29. “Any professional who’s competitive wants to be on the field,” Berhalter said Friday, Jan. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)
NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — United States midfielder Gio Reyna is heading to the Premier League in a bid to revive his career, but his time at Borussia Dortmund isn’t over.
Reyna joined Nottingham Forest on loan Wednesday for the rest of the season. Dortmund is letting Reyna leave temporarily — the deal does not contain an option for Forest to buy him — and said he’s also signed a one-year contract extension with the German team through the 2025-26 season.
“He is a player who has enormous skills and in whom we still see a lot of potential,“ Dortmund sporting director Sebastian Kehl said in a statement, adding that Reyna had requested the Forest move. “We have complied with this and now wish Gio maximum sporting success for the second half of the season in England.”
The 21-year-old Reyna has started just one Bundesliga match this season, playing the first half at Eintracht Frankfurt on Oct. 29. He also has made 10 appearances as a substitute.
The last time Reyna played an entire Bundesliga game was in March 2022. He hasn’t started two Bundesliga games in a row since August 2021. Dortmund’s signing of Jadon Sancho on loan from Manchester United added to the competition for places in the attacking midfield and winger positions where Reyna had been playing.
Kehl told Sky this month that Reyna was coming out of “a difficult time” with injury setbacks and that, given the amount of competition for places, he’d understand if Reyna was “a bit dissatisfied” with that.
Reyna was limited to two substitute appearances at the 2022 World Cup, around which a feud developed between Reyna’s family — he is a son of former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna and American midfielder Danielle Egan — and U.S. coach Gregg Berhalter. The spat led to Berhalter being replaced by interim coaches for much of last year.
Berhalter is back as the coach and Reyna played four matches with the U.S. in October and November.
Forest is in fifth-to-last place in the Premier League, two points and two places above the relegation zone.
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