It wasn't long ago that Gio Reyna was the darling of the U.S. national team.
Son of former USMNT star Claudio Reyna and himself seemingly a teenage prodigy, Reyna was electric every time he stepped on the field for his country. Even as his playing time waned at Borussia Dortmund, he was always there to light up the crowd in a national-team shirt.
Those days are gone. After scoring four goals in his first eight international appearances across 2020 and 2021, he has fallen out of the picture.
At 22 years old, Reyna hardly ever sees the field for Dortmund. The severe lack of playing time has stunted his development, and a failed six-month loan spell at Nottingham Forest only worsened the situation. A much-needed exit from the Bundesliga club feels likely this summer, but it has yet to materialize.
One former USMNT prodigy feels Reyna's pain. Speaking exclusively to The Sporting News, Freddy Adu shared his insight..
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Freddy Adu says Gio Reyna's struggles are familiar
Once considered the future of American soccer, Freddy Adu can relate to Reyna like few others. Adu became the youngest player to sign a contract in American professional sports when he agreed a deal with MLS side D.C. United at just 14 years old. The moment instantly made him a household name in America and beyond, but the limelight faded much sooner than many hoped.
Now four years off his final professional appearance, Adu is honest and refreshing when reflecting on his journeyman career. When Reyna's name came up, Adu couldn't even sit through the whole question without a hearty chuckle. He knew right away what was coming, and it was familiar. Too familiar.
"I'm laughing right now because that was my story, man," Adu told The Sporting News. "I was struggling to find playing time at the club level when I was in Europe, and any time I got a chance to be on the national team I ended up playing some of my best games."
After 11 goals in 87 appearances for D.C. United across three seasons, plus one more with Real Salt Lake, Adu would move to Europe, signing a deal with Benfica in the hopes of continuing his development. Ultimately, the search for a permanent home would continue for much of his career, as club after club failed to provide consistency.
"I do," Adu said when asked if he empathized with Reyna's plight. "It's literally my story. It's like, I go to Europe, I'm not playing a lot, I'm going alone from here to here to here, and I'm still not playing a lot. But when I do get some playing time and I do play well, and I get a chance to be with the national team, I'm always like, 'alright, national team, boom, I'm ready to go,' and I performed better for the national team than I did with my club teams at certain points. So, I do feel for him."
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14-year-old soccer phenomenon Freddy Adu was selected by DC United as the number 1 draft pick. pic.twitter.com/PZsRXslL33
While looking from afar, Adu sees a similar story playing out with Reyna on the pitch, where the lack of playing time becomes a vicious cycle.
"I got frustrated, I did, I got frustrated. I felt like I wasn't getting the opportunity when I was training well, so I did let myself get frustrated, so that's what ended up hurting me a lot. Coaches see this — they're not stupid. When they see that, it'll be used against you. It's like, 'why would I give you an opportunity when you're frustrated, you're sulking, you're in your own world when guys are in front of you?' You gotta be front and center cheering the team on, and you have to be ready when you get that chance."
Freddy Adu's advice for Gio Reyna: Get out of Dortmund
Adu offered some earnest advice, knowing what Reyna must be going through at this moment in his career.
"With Gio, he needs to leave Dortmund, there is no ifs, ands, or buts," Adu said, via 32red EPL betting. "He's got to go to a smaller team — in Europe, I hope he stays in Europe because that would be good for him to grind it out — [where] he's gonna have a chance to be a regular starter and a regular contributor on the team.
"As a player, you don't get better by just sitting on the bench or playing small minutes at a big club. You just don't."
As always, saying a player should leave a club is nice, but the next step has to be worth the move. For Adu, he believes Reyna could potentially find a home in La Liga, which could be a fit.
"I think Spain would be good for him because I think the style of play suits him," Adu said.
Whatever the case, he believes Reyna has to change his mentality, as Adu himself sometimes struggled to do during his career.
"You don't get into form when you get 20 minutes a game or 10 minutes a game, or you start a game and get taken off at halftime," Adu said. "It messes with your game, it messes with everything. You don't get into a rhythm and improve as a player. I think that's where he is right now and that's where I was most of my career when I went to Europe.
"The advice would be, really just keep your head down and keep grinding, man, and when you get that opportunity, you have to make it count. You just have to. If you get that opportunity and you are just okay on the field... you have to ball out when you get that opportunity. That's why you have to be ready, ready, ready to train and don't get frustrated so you're ready to take that chance when you get it."
The goal, he says, is to keep your frustrations — which are, of course, only human — from affecting your performances, because at that point, the situation can become unrecoverable.
"Coaches see this. I got frustrated, and they saw me frustrated, and that really hurt me. Once that happens, word does spread. People talk. You don't want that to become something that's associated with you."