The ill-fated Gio Reyna era at Nottingham Forest is officially over.
The Premier League club confirmed Reyna has returned to Borussia Dortmund after the expiration of a half-season loan that didn’t work out for any party involved.
Reyna joined at midseason looking for increased playing time after spending the first half of the season on the periphery at Dortmund.
Instead, the U.S. national team star hardly featured for the Premier League relegation-battlers, making 2023-24 essentially a lost season for one of American soccer’s biggest talents.
Reyna played in just 10 games for Forest, starting twice, while earning a total of just 230 minutes.
Reyna will return to Dortmund facing an uncertain future. He played just 360 minutes in the first half of the season under head coach Edin Terzić, who looks likely to stay next season after guiding the club to the Champions League final.
Prior to joining Forest on loan, Reyna signed a one-year extension of his Dortmund contract to take him through 2026.
Despite his lack of minutes at the club level, Reyna continues to be a valuable player for the USMNT. After calling Reyna into his roster for pre-Copa América friendlies, head coach Gregg Berhalter said the attacker wasn’t under any extra pressure after a disappointing club season.
“I don’t think there’s any added pressure for Gio. All he has to do is continue to do what he’s been doing with our team,” the coach said. “He’s performed extremely well over these last nine months and showing that he can be an important part of this team. If you look at the impact in the Nations League, it was really good and we’re expecting something similar in the summer.
“Our job as coaches is to put him in the best possible position to perform at a high level and we’ll use the training camp and the friendly games to prepare the entire team. We’re using the friendly games and the tournament as a measuring stick of what we can achieve together.”
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