Gio Reyna touted for Rangers transfer as Borussia Dortmund star told Ibrox switch can fuel World Cup dream

Daily Record

4 days ago

Reyna is out of sorts at Dortmund and was linked with Gers earlier this year
US national team star Giovanni Reyna could kickstart his career by following in his father's footsteps in making a move to Rangers.
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That's the view of former prodigy American prodigy Freddy Adu, who reckons that the midfielder needs to leave Borussia Dortmund to improve his chances of getting back into the national-team set-up ahead of next year's World Cup.
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Reyna - who was linked with Gers earlier this year - burst onto the scene with the Bundesliga club in 2020 but has since become a bit-part player in recent seasons, spending the second half of the 2023/24 campaign on loan at Nottingham Forest in the Premier League.
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Championship Manager legend Adu was a teammate of Reyna's father Claudio at international level, with Reyna Snr enjoying a memorable two-year stint at Ibrox between 1999 and 2001.
And while Adu wasn't able to live up to his wonderkid status despite spending time on trial with Manchester United, he believes Rangers will be a perfect fit for the youngster.
Adu, speaking via the best sportsbook software, said: "If he could go to a place like Rangers it would do wonders for him. Why? Because he will get the playing time he needs, he will be an essential part of the team, and he will essentially grow a lot as a player and just improve a lot.
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"You don't get better by sitting on the bench. I mean, you can train all you want, but your game gets to that next level by getting a lot of game time. That just that just goes for everybody. So if he gets a chance to go to a team like Rangers, I think it'll benefit him tremendously.
"I do think that he's good enough to go to Rangers and become a regular starter on that team, and once he gets a chance to be a regular starter and not always looking over his shoulder if he makes a mistake, if he doesn't do well, he's gonna be right back on the bench, etc. You can't operate, nobody wants to deal with that.
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"I think that would give him an opportunity to really grow and improve a lot as a player and, in turn, preparing him for the World Cup that's coming up, because this is a really important year.
"So as far as Gio goes, I'm the biggest fan. For the US national team, I think his skillset is so incredibly needed and pivotal to the success of the national team right now.
"We need a player like him in the midfield in the national team. I've always sung his praises. His situation right now, oh man it breaks my heart. It really does, because I think he's so talented.
"Sometimes as players, we want to be at big clubs, and we want to be at clubs that are known. But sometimes it just doesn't work out. And it has not worked out for Gio at Dortmund.
"In my opinion, I think he just needs to focus on finding a move away from Dortmund, somewhere he will be an essential part of the team."