The wait is finally over. After weeks of negotiations between Borussia Dortmund and other clubs, most notably Serie A side Parma, Gio Reyna is staying in the Bundesliga, having joined Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday.

And the move hasn’t arrived a moment too soon. The 22-year-old is in desperate need of a fresh start, plagued by injuries and inconsistency in the past four seasons, a series of events that has dramatically limited his opportunities for both club and country.

Will remaining in Germany help Reyna revive his career for the U.S. men’s national team? Do Gladbach have a plan in place to keep the former prodigy fit and firing? ESPN analysts in the U.S. and Germany unpack Reyna’s transfer to Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Will Reyna get the minutes to make the World Cup?

First and foremost: Reyna needs to get on the field.

With Dortmund, the American earned just 342 minutes in the previous Bundesliga season, and when including the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League, that total number is a meager tally of only 614 minutes in total for the young attacking midfielder. For reference, USMNT captain Christian Pulisic earned 3,119 minutes last season in both competitions for AC Milan.

Now as the latest Gladbach addition, this represents a fresh start for a player like Reyna. Still just 22 and not turning 23 until November, the ceiling remains high for what many — or at least many two to three years ago — considered to be the most gifted played in the U.S. player pool. Technically gifted and with an eye for short distribution and agile dribbles into the final third, Reyna is an unfinished product that could still step up.

Clearly, though, nothing is guaranteed with the national team.

Were USMNT coach Mauricio Pochettino to make a World Cup roster if it started today, Reyna would be a doubtful call-up when considering his lack of minutes. No longer the wunderkind of the past, the son of former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna has yet to follow through with the lofty expectations that were once thrust upon him.

It wasn’t easy for the young player to leave Dortmund, he himself stated that the club “shaped me in ways I’ll never forget, both on and off the field” on Instagram over the weekend, noting just how difficult it was to leave the team he had been at since 16 years of age.

Nonetheless, Reyna is on the outside looking in at Pochettino’s USMNT. If there was ever a sign of the coach not making any compromises for any of his players, Pulisic’s absence over the summer was a clear indicator of the Argentine not having much patience for players who aren’t fully committed or ready for his project ahead of 2026.

Reyna has enough raw material under his belt to re-enter the conversation thanks to what could be a superlative club season with Gladbach, but of course, that’s all on paper. Before possibly starring for the U.S. next summer, before regaining his status as the next up-and-coming name for the Stars and Stripes, he’ll first have to get on that field for Gladbach — and on a consistent basis. — Cesar Hernandez

Reyna can be Gladbach’s Swiss Army knife

Gladbach were looking to reinforce their attack after transferring Alassane Pléa to PSV Eindhoven in July. What convinced Roland Virkus, Borussia’s managing director for sport, to push his chips in for Reyna is the American’s versatility.

Mönchengladbach’s transfer budget is limited, meaning they need to get the most for their money. Virkus and manager Gerardo Seoane believe they can use Reyna on both wings as well as in the middle of the pitch. The idea is to plug in Reyna where he is needed most while not necessarily blocking the path of 16-year-old Wael Mohya, a highly gifted attacker.

Gladbach started their Bundesliga campaign on Sunday when they faced Hamburg SV at Borussia Park. Seoane employed a 4-2-3-1, with Kevin Stöger as the No. 10 behind striker Haris Tabakovic. Just like last season, Robin Hack and Franck Honorat played on the wings. In all likelihood, Reyna would compete with Stöger, but he could also be an alternative to Hack and Honorat.

Another fact that made Mönchengladbach’s decision makers hopeful is related to Reyna’s age. Because he made his debut at 17 and has already been through a lot, Reyna seems older than he really is. He has played less than 4,000 minutes in the Bundesliga thus far.

“He enjoyed a meteoric rise at BVB at the beginning of his career, culminating in the cup triumph in 2021,” said Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl. “Unfortunately, his development in recent seasons has not gone as we had all hoped.”

Reyna made 26 appearances for Dortmund last season but only averaged 24 minutes per appearance.

Injuries have frequently derailed Reyna’s progress. He has missed roughly 84 competitive games, U.S. national team games included, in the past four years. Mönchengladbach don’t have a specific plan to keep Reyna on the pitch; they simply hope that given his youth, he might turn a corner and stay ready to play for a change.

Surely, a change of scenery can help him, at least mentally. The fact that Reyna moves for a small transfer fee of €4 million, which can rise to €7 million if certain bonuses are triggered, shows how much his stock has fallen in recent times. At one point, a fee in the eight digits would have been realistic.

At Mönchengladbach, Reyna will wear No. 13. Another former No. 13 for the club was Lars Stindl, who became something of a club legend. Stindl’s biggest advantage was not only his football IQ but his versatility within Borussia’s attack. No one at Mönchengladbach is saying that Reyna could be the next Stindl, but there’s some wishful thinking that he might at least follow Stindl’s trail and became that Swiss Army knife-type of midfielder that is always useful.

Reyna will join his friend, international teammate and former New York City FC academy colleague Joe Scally. Together, the two will likely do everything in their power to play their way into a place at the 2026 World Cup. — Constantin Eckner