Again in the margins at Dortmund, Gio Reyna in danger of being an ‘eternal prospect’

Reyna is back to the same place where he has spent so much of his five years as a first-team professional: playing marginal minutes at Borussia Dortmund. At a big club, but not quite big-time. Almost breaking through but never exactly getting the timing or the opportunities right. Threatening to become, as the Dutch call it, an “eternal prospect.”

Remember the 2020-21 season, when Reyna, who turned 18 that year, formed an effervescent foursome of forwards with a few other hot prospects? Those colleagues: Jude Bellingham, Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho. That feels like a long time ago.

On Saturday, Reyna substituted into Dortmund’s dreary 2-1 loss to Stuttgart in the 85th minute, just before Julian Ryerson was sent off and reduced the home side to 10 men. Reyna had six touches in the late chaos as he and his teammates desperately tried to arrest their downward spiral. This came a week after his previous appearance, when he played all of four minutes and communed with the ball only four times after coming on in the 88th minute at Heidenheim. He has made just one Bundesliga start this season and logged 175 minutes – on a team that has faceplanted to 11th place with a what-is-gong-on-here goal difference of +1.

On Tuesday, in Dortmund’s 3-0 dismantling of Sporting in the first leg of their Champions League knockout phase playoffs, Reyna didn’t play at all. He was seen jogging along the sideline and joining in on the goal celebrations of others.