Gio Reyna is fit and raring to go again after suffering a spate of injures at Borussia Dortmund.
Gio Reyna is fit and raring to go again after suffering a spate of injures at Borussia Dortmund. - © Lukas Schulze/Bundesliga
Gio Reyna is fit and raring to go again after suffering a spate of injures at Borussia Dortmund. - © Lukas Schulze/Bundesliga
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Gio Reyna: Who is Borussia Dortmund's American Dream?

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Football runs in the blood for Borussia Dortmund's 'American Dream' Gio Reyna, who recently made his 100th Bundesliga appearance and is finding form once again after an injury-plagued spell on the sidelines.

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Stats correct as of 05 February 2025

Giovanni 'Gio' Reyna

Age: 22 (13 November 2002)
Club: Borussia Dortmund
Position: Attacking midfielder
Country: USA (31 caps/ eight goals)

Key stats

Born in November 2002, Gio is the son of former American internationals Claudio Reyna and Danielle Egan Reyna. A supremely gifted sportsman from an early age, Gio followed his dad to NYCFC, joining club's youth academy. After a strong 2017/18 campaign with the NYCFC U18/19s – in which he scored 13 goals in 17 appearances – Reyna arrived in Dortmund at the start of 2019.

Like former teammate Christian Pulisic, he was able to join the Black-and-Yellows at the age of just 16, having secured a Portuguese passport through Claudio's mother Maria. After playing for the club's U19s team in 2019/20, he was promoted to the senior side during the winter break and made his Bundesliga debut on Matchday 18, aged 17.

Watch: Gio Reyna - like father, and mother, like son

Reyna opened his Dortmund account a few weeks later, scoring in BVB's 3-2 DFB Cup defeat to Werder Bremen in February 2020, at the time making history as the competition's youngest goalscorer. After producing his first Bundesliga assist on the penultimate day of 2019/20, Reyna scored and assisted on the opening weekend of his first full top-flight campaign. He was already a first-team regular at the time of his USMNT debut in November 2020, and scored on only his second senior international, a friendly against Panama.

The 6'0" playmaker won his first senior trophies with Dortmund's 2021 DFB Cup triumph and the USA's 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup success. Then, in August 2021, at the age of 18 years, nine months and 14 days, Reyna became the youngest player to reach 50 appearances in the Bundesliga. Breaking the record previously held by Kai Havertz, US Soccer's Young Male Player of the Year for 2020 marked the the occasion with his sixth league goal.

He suffered with a series of injuries subsequently, however, and it took him over three years to make another 50 Bundesliga outings, eventually surpassing the 100-game milestone on Matchday 20 of the 2024/25 season in Dortmund's 2-1 win at Heidenheim

Plays a bit like: Kaka

Patrick Vieira, who coached Reyna during his two-year spell with NYCFC, has previously likened BVB's new diamond in the rough to his former France teammate David Trezeguet, alongside whom he won the World Cup in 1998, but his ability to run at top speed for extended periods, breaking into opposition boxes and scoring goals is more reminiscent of AC Milan and Brazil great, Kaka.

A true all-rounder, Reyna is blessed with pace and possesses a keen eye for the killer pass. He is also dangerous from set pieces, notably direct free-kicks.

Watch: The best of Gio Reyna at Dortmund

Did you know?

The Reyna family suffered tragedy in July 2012, when Gio's older brother Jack died of brain cancer at the age of just 13. Gio was nine years old. Claudio recalls taking Jack to see Gio try out for a basketball team a few months beforehand, in particular the moment when his eldest son turned to him with a smile and said, "Dad, Gio is the best player here by far."

"He wasn't jealous about anything," Claudio told Sports Illustrated. "He absolutely thought Gio was incredible."

What they're saying

"I called him 'the American dream' before. What he's doing on the pitch is amazing. He has a huge future in front of him." - former Dortmund teammate Erling Haaland

Watch: Erling Haaland - 'He's the American Dream'

"He could be arguably the best young American talent out there today." - Dortmund's first American player, Jovan Kirovski

"He's much more of an athlete than I was, much more of a goal scorer. He's very technical and has a good feel for the game. He has a great free kick and can strike a ball well. Danielle was a great runner – and he's a runner." – Claudio Reyna, Gio's father