Tag: Bundesliga

USMNT attacker Aaronson open to permanent Union Berlin stay

The 23-year-old’s loan from Leeds expires at the end of the season

Brenden Aaronson has said he could see himself staying at Union Berlin for the long term.

The U.S. national team attacker is currently on a season-long loan from Leeds, with his future at the end of the season unclear.

Aaronson played just one season at Leeds before moving to Germany on loan, following the club’s relegation from the Premier League at the end of last season.

The 23-year-old has struggled to find minutes for much of the season at Union, but has recently started to find his footing. Aaronson has started three straight matches and has scored two goals in the past seven, following a period of a year and a half without a club goal.

As his loan winds down to its final two months, Aaronson told Get German Football News that he is open staying at Union.

“I can see myself remaining here,” Aaronson said.

“The club is amazing. it’s not up to me at the end of the day but I have so much respect for Union, the way it has been built, the staff, it’s an amazing family club and they’ve done an amazing job.

“For me, it’s (about) making the right decision in the summer, evaluating the year and going from there. Staying is an option but I can’t say much more.”

Aaronson said he’s also been keeping a close eye on his parent club, which is in third place in the Championship as it eyes an immediate promotion back to the Premier League.

“I’ve been paying close attention to Leeds, I know a lot of the guys, I get on with a lot of them, they are good guys,” he added.

“I’ve been paying attention because they’ve been having a fantastic season so it’s been great to watch.

“They just need to keep pushing because they’ve got good things coming their way at the end of the season.”

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Bundesliga 2023-24 top scorers: Tracking the German goalscoring race

An updated list of the top scorers in the Bundesliga for the 2023-24 season

The battle to be the Bundesliga’s top marksman is underway.

Last year, the Kicker-Torjägerkanone trophy was claimed by both Niclas Füllkrug and Christopher Nkunku, who scored 16 goals each for Werder Bremen and RB Leipzig, respectively.

With Füllkrug no longer necessarily a sure starter after a summer move to Borussia Dortmund and Nkunku having left the league for Chelsea, there’s a strong chance that the Bundesliga will see a new player atop the goalscoring charts at season’s end.

England striker Harry Kane may be a favorite after a summer transfer to Bayern Munich, but the notoriously free-scoring Bundesliga will likely produce a long list of contenders to lead the league in goals this time around.

Here is an updated list of the top scorers in the Bundesliga for the 2023-24 season.

All stats updated as of April 7

Leverkusen goal celebration extremely lit after Germany legalizes weed

Germany’s new law inspired Leverkusen pair Jeremie Frimpong and Amine Adli

Bayer Leverkusen was in the mood to celebrate on Wednesday, for more reasons than one.

For starters, Xabi Alonso’s side continued its remarkable unbeaten season with a 4-0 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf in the German cup semifinal. Leverkusen will face Kaiserslautern in the final, as a treble is still very much possible this season with a commanding lead in the Bundesliga and a Europa League quarterfinal date with West Ham.

Jeremie Frimpong was also flying high thanks to Germany’s new relaxed laws on marijuana, offering up a weed-themed celebration alongside Amine Adli following his seventh-minute goal.

After slamming the ball into the net, Frimpong went up to Adli, who pantomimed rolling and lighting up a joint before passing it over to his teammate. The Dutch defender — perhaps in a nod to his birth city of Amsterdam — eagerly accepted the gift and took a good, long drag.

Only two days before Leverkusen’s match, Germany became the largest European Union country to legalize marijuana possession for recreational use.

Bayer Leverkusen hasn’t won a major trophy since 1993, and is now just a few wins away from a treble. The pressure is on Alonso’s men, but they have been too good to imagine this season going up in smoke.

Watch Leverkusen’s weed-themed celebration

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Brenden Aaronson: It’s been the toughest year of my life

Aaronson was reflective after a man-of-the-match performance for Union Berlin

Brenden Aaronson turned in a man-of-the-match display for Union Berlin on Saturday but after the game, his mood was more reflective than ecstatic.

Aaronson was hugely influential in his side’s 2-1 win over Werder Bremen, playing a big role in Yorbe Vertessen’s opener before scoring himself just two minutes later.

The 23-year-old’s performance came on the heels of a major blow. Just days earlier, Gregg Berhalter omitted Aaronson from the U.S. men’s national team roster for this month’s Nations League finals. On Sunday, Berhalter would end up recalling the Union Berlin man after injuries to Luca de la Torre and Josh Sargent.

Aaronson has struggled to assert himself at the club level for some time. After a hot start with Leeds last season, his form fell off in the second half of the campaign. The attacker was loaned out to Union for the 2023-24 season after Leeds was relegated, but has found life in the Bundesliga difficult as well.

Saturday’s goal was just the second of the season for Aaronson, who has started only eight of his 30 total appearances for Union. After one of his best performances in some time, the New Jersey native admitted that things haven’t been easy for him of late.

“It’s been the toughest year of my life,” Aaronson told reporters. “Going from Leeds and then not playing much here, it’s mentally a battle all the time, staying confident.”

Even amid a downturn in form at the club level, Aaronson had been consistently called into the USMNT before last week’s roster was released. Berhalter said he called the attacker after leaving him out of the squad, offering some words of encouragement.

“The message for him was, ‘I know this hurts. I know it’s a setback, but use it,” the coach said. “Use it to make you stronger, and to keep going and to keep fighting your way through through the obstacles that you have to overcome right now.’ It was a good conversation.”

Aaronson has now scored two goals in his last five games, as he continues to find more freedom under coach Nenad Bjelica.

“The opponent put a lot of pressure on our sixes with their sixes,” Bjelica said after the game on Saturday. “This left Brenden free in some situations. With Brenden and Yorbe, we wanted to field players who could do something in the smallest of spaces.”

Aaronson added: “I felt very comfortable in this position between the lines. It was about finding the free spaces. It just felt really good to me.”

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Reyna returns for Borussia Dortmund in U-23 match

The USMNT forward will hope to make his season debut after the international break

Gio Reyna is one step closer to making his season debut with Borussia Dortmund.

The Bundesliga club said on Friday that the U.S. national team forward had played in a game with its U-23 team, marking his first match action of the 2023-24 campaign.

Dortmund’s Instagram account said that Reyna played around 60 minutes in a 1-0 defeat to Schalke’s U-23 squad.

Reyna missed all of Dortmund’s preseason and the club’s first four regular season matches with an injury he sustained in June’s CONCACAF Nations League final.

Reyna was also left off the USMNT squad for this month’s friendlies against Uzbekistan and Oman as he nears a return to full fitness.

Dortmund is off to a sputtering start in its Bundesliga campaign, winning its opener against FC Köln but then drawing consecutive games against likely relegation battlers Bochum and Heidenheim

The 20-year-old will hope to make his season debut after the international break when Dortmund travels to face Freiburg on September 16.

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Palhinha flies to Munich, has medical, watches Bayern move disintegrate

Palhinha has become the transfer deadline day’s tragic figure

João Palhinha has become the transfer deadline day’s tragic figure, as his move from Fulham to Bayern Munich collapsed as he watched on helplessly from Bayern’s training facility.

Fulham had allowed the Portuguese midfielder to fly to Munich after reportedly agreeing to a fee in the region of €65 million with the German champions.

Though Palhinha arrived in Munich, the transfer was not completely sealed. Fulham was still reportedly searching for the 28-year-old’s replacement, which was a necessity for the Premier League club to allow one of its key players to depart.

Though the likes of Scott McTominay and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg were linked to the Cottagers, no deal went through prior to the 6 p.m. transfer deadline in Germany.

And so Palhinha — having already completed a medical and even taken photos with a Bayern shirt — saw his deadline-day move collapse in heartbreaking fashion.

It was a frustrating conclusion to a fruitless deadline day for Bayern, which also saw rumored moves for Armel Bella-Kotchap, Trevoh Chalobah and João Cancelo fall through.

But it was Palhinha’s collapsed deal which will hurt the most, as the Portugal international joins Peter Odemwingie in the annals of failed deadline-day transfers.

Reyna returns to training with Borussia Dortmund

The USMNT star is back on the training pitch for the first time this season

Borussia Dortmund head coach Edin Terzić confirmed that Gio Reyna has returned to training for the first time this season.

Reyna has been battling a lingering calf injury that he suffered with the U.S. national team in June, when he was forced off at halftime of the CONCACAF Nations League final.

The 20-year-old American has been forced to miss the entirety of Dortmiund’s preseason as well as its first two regular season matches.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of Saturday’s Bundesliga match at VfL Bochum, Terzić said that Reyna was back training with his teammates, though he could only participate in some parts.

“Gio Reyna is on the pitch for the first time today and can participate in parts of training,” Terzić said.

Reyna’s return to training this week could be viewed as something of a pleasant surprise. Prior to Saturday’s Bundesliga opener at FC Köln, Terzić said he was hopeful the American could be back on the pitch within two weeks.

“Gio is OK, but Gio is not game ready at the minute, so he didn’t train with the team,” Terzić said. “So we hope that he can join us next week or the week after.

“He’s on a good way, he’s doing his running program. He’s working on his fitness level. And now we hope that he’s going to be pain free and that he can help us.”

Reyna scored a career-high seven Bundesliga goals last season despite only making four league starts.

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Terzic hopeful Reyna can rejoin training within two weeks

It sounds like the USMNT attacker will miss at least another game or two

Borussia Dortmund head coach Edin Terzić has said he’s hopeful that Gio Reyna can return to training within the next two weeks.

Reyna has missed Dortmund’s first two games of the season as he continues to battle a calf injury suffered with the U.S. national team in June’s CONCACAF Nations League final.

The attacker, who has dealt with fitness issues for a significant portion of his stint with Dortmund, was forced to miss the team’s entire preseason as well as matches in the DFB-Pokal and Bundesliga.

Terzić spoke to ESPN prior to Saturday’s Bundesliga opener, which Dortmund would win 1-0 over FC Köln.

The coach was non-committal over exactly how long the 20-year-old would be sidelined, indicating the attacker would miss at least another match or two.

“Gio is OK, but Gio is not game ready at the minute, so he didn’t train with the team,” Terzić said. “So we hope that he can join us next week or the week after.

“He’s on a good way, he’s doing his running program. He’s working on his fitness level. And now we hope that he’s going to be pain free and that he can help us.”

Dortmund will return to action on Saturday with a Bundesliga match at VfL Bochum.

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Reyna’s injury woes continue as USMNT star ruled out of Bundesliga opener

The USMNT attacker is still fighting off a calf injury suffered in June

Gio Reyna has been ruled out of Borussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga opener this weekend due to an ongoing calf injury.

Reyna suffered the injury in June’s CONCACAF Nations League final against Canada, getting two assists before leaving at halftime after a tough tackle from an opponent. The United States would go on to win 2-0.

Two months later, the 20-year-old has yet to fully recover. He missed Dortmund’s entire preseason and its regular season opener last week, a 6-1 DFB-Pokal win against Schott Mainz.

In a press conference ahead of Saturday’s league opener against FC Köln, head coach Edin Terzić said the USMNT attacker has yet to recover.

“[Julien] Duranville, Reyna and [Thomas] Meunier are definitely out,” Terzić said. “There are question marks with Felix Nmecha and Karim Adeyemi, but there we are confident that it could work out for Saturday.”

Reyna has suffered through various injury issues during his time with Dortmund, though he managed to stay healthy throughout most of last season after being brought along slowly in the early going.

As the campaign wore on, however, Reyna found himself struggling for minutes due to the stellar form of the attackers above him on the depth chart. Still, he made the most of his opportunities by scoring a career-best seven league goals, despite only getting four starts all season.

Reyna came off the bench in Dortmund’s season finale against Mainz, grabbing two assists as his side agonizingly fell short of a Bundesliga title with a 2-2 draw in a game they needed to win.

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Dortmund boss Terzic provides Reyna injury update

It sounds like Reyna may not be back in training for a little while yet

It sounds like Gio Reyna may not be back on the training pitch for Borussia Dortmund for a little while yet.

The club’s head coach Edin Terzić offered updates on Reyna and several other injured players after Wednesday’s 7-0 preseason-opening win over fifth-tier Westfalia Rhynern.

When asked about Karim Adeyemi, Youssoufa Moukoko and Felix Nmecha, Terzić told Dortmund’s official website: “Five players are not yet completely fit.

“The aforementioned trio are joined by Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Gio Reyna, who unfortunately got injured with their national teams.”

Reyna was injured last month in the CONCACAF Nations League final, a game in which he provided both assists as the U.S. defeated Canada 2-0.

Speaking after the match, interim head coach B.J. Callaghan said he didn’t know the severity of the injury, only saying that it was a calf issue.

Nearly a month later there still haven’t been many updates on Reyna’s injury, but Terzić did not include the USMNT star in a list of players he was hoping to see in training next week.

“The lads are on a good path,” the coach added. “Four of them will be on the training pitch tomorrow and then we hope to have them all fit by the end of preseason at the latest. In Karim, Youssoufa and Felix’s case, we hope that they will already be able to participate fully in team training next week.”

Dortmund is set to continue its preseason in the United States later this month, as it has matches scheduled against Premier League giants Manchester United and Chelsea, as well as USL Championship side San Diego Loyal.

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