It’s been reported in La Gazzetta dello Sport today that United States international and Borussia Dortmund player Giovanni Reyna could possibly be headed to Italy. The American, born in 2002, is the son of former US international Claudio Reyna. “Gio is both a strong yet problematic player, both physically and temperamentally,” reports the Italian daily.
Reyna has faced long periods out from the game due to injury and following his return, has seen little game time. He has only made 11 appearances, with just one start, amounting to 273 minutes without scoring a goal, adding that “But his qualities are beyond doubt. Reina is an attacking midfielder who can also play as a false nine and on the wings. He has great running ability, dribbling, and physical presence.”
There are other clubs interested in him; Fiorentina is trying to secure what could be a significant capture. However, the latest hours have diverted him to England, to Nottingham, causing a potentially interesting operation to fizzle out.
Here are three curiosities to better know him, taken from his Instagram profile.
PENALTY CELEBRATION
Last season, on 5 November 2022, Borussia Dortmund hosted Bochum and won comfortably, 3-0. Reyna scored the second goal, converting a penalty. The caption to the photo of the group celebration is very simple: “+3”, as in the goals and the points gained in a championship that Dortmund fell short of winning, surpassed on the last day.
WORLD CUP DISAPPOINTMENT
The picture speaks eloquently: Reyna features in a photo highlighting USA’s defeat at the Round of 16 in the 2022 Qatar finals, finishing their match with the Netherlands 3-1 losers. Reyna didn’t shine at the tournament as much as he had hoped, fielded in just two of the four games his national team contested. During the match with the Oranges, he provided a good pass to Juventus player McKennie to open the scoring, but his team-mate shot over the bar. His comments underneath the published photo: “Disappointing tournament, appreciate all the love and support received. Looking forward to the second half of the season!”
He could not hide his disappointment with the public reprimands he received from national team coach Gregg Berhalter. “In this World Cup, we had a player who clearly fell short of expectations both on and off the field. As a team, we sat down for hours to decide what we would do with this player,” Berhalter maintains. Reyna almost risked being sent home. “I’m disappointed by the continuous media coverage of this issue and extremely surprised that someone from the US men’s team staff could contribute to spreading this news,” said Reyna.
HOLIDAY AND DISCRETION
Reyna used a beach trip in the Dominican Republic as the perfect way to forget his World Cup woes. By his side on the trip was his girlfriend, Chloe Ortolano, who is also a footballer but unlike her boyfriend, she keeps a much lower profile and likes her privacy. This is clearly evident from the fact that her social media accounts (Twitter and Instagram) are both private, leading to minimal information about her. Their shared photograph, showing them somewhat distant, seems to be inspired by this principle.