مدير عام كرة القدم
- Gomez acknowledges Reyna’s undeniable talent
- Emphasizes dramatic fall from projected stardom
- Advises focusing on club career, not كأس العالم
Reacting to reports that USMNT midfielder Giovanni Reyna could be on the move from Dortmund to Parma, former national team player Herculez Gomez characterized the potential transfer as a significant gamble for the Italian club.
“Parma is going to be looking to stay up in the الدوري الإيطالي and Giovanni Reyna is going to be looking to stay afloat with his career,” Gomez said on the Futbol Americas podcast. “You’re betting on the pedigree, the development of a Borussia Dortmund player. You’re betting on the ceiling and talent of a player, that when he has played, briefly, those flashes, they’ve been very positive throughout the years.
“That’s what keeps U.S. men’s national team pundits, and people who have seen Giovanni Reyna, clinging just for a little bit of hope. Hoping that he can get his career back on track. Listen, Giovanni, Reyna is 22 years old. Last time we really saw him play, he was 17 going on 18, World Cup qualifying for Qatar. He got injured versus El Salvador and we didn’t see him for months.”
Gomez expressed disbelief at how dramatically Reyna’s stock has fallen, stating “nobody believed” such a precipitous decline would happen to a player once considered America’s brightest prospect.
“It’s been injuries. It’s been coach after coach after coach,” he said. “He was either injured or couldn’t get on the field. And when he got on the field, couldn’t stay on the field. And when it came to the national team, he would still show you those flashes, whether that was with Anthony Hudson, whether it was B.J Callahan.
“He would show you those flashes. But we’ve not seen him. We’ve not seen at the club level, and we’ve not seen them recently with the U.S men’s national team. And he’s fallen so far off the cliff with the U.S men’s national team, where we didn’t think that would happen.”
The analyst emphasized that despite possibly having “the highest ceiling in the pool,” Reyna currently finds himself completely outside the national team picture. Gomez also believes that Reyna’s focus shouldn’t be the 2026 World Cup, but rather attempting to get his club career back on track again.
“A player with probably the highest ceiling in the pool is way beyond the outside looking in,” he said. “And so it’s what are they (Parma) seeing him? They see a player that can hopefully regain that spark. But I’m in line with my colleagues. This is a player that you can’t be thinking World Cup right now. You’re going to be thinking your career, you got to be thinking, ‘I gotta get my life back on track.’ ”
Gomez said Reyna is in danger of wasting an incredible opportunity.
“You look at your counterparts, you came on board at Dortmund at the same time as the likes of إيرلينج هالاند, as the likes of Jude Bellingham,” he said. “And you’ve seen what they’ve been able to achieve and yes, they’re very good talents. But they were your counterparts. Gio puts up a picture and these are the guys, these are his friends, commenting on his Instagram post.
“The American dream, that’s long gone. We don’t think of Giovanni Reyna as a prospect. He’s not a 16-year-old who broke onto the scene….he’s now bordering this territory of a what could have been.”
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Reyna signed for Borussia Dortmund in 2019 and has since made 147 appearances for the club, scoring 13 goals and 10 assists.
Reyna reportedly continues to be in discussions with Parma. He’ll also be eyeing a spot in Mauricio Pochettino’s USMNT squad for the 2026 World Cup.
