Eight days after making his USMNT debut — and four days after scoring his first USMNT goal — Gio Reyna has put pen to paper and signed a new, long-term contract with Bundesliga giant Borussia Dortmund through the summer of 2025.
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Reyna, who only celebrated his 18th birthday last week, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent months at Dortmund, having only made his Bundesliga debut in January and scored his first professional goal in February. Reyna made his UEFA Champions League debut as the third-youngest player (and the youngest American) to ever appear in a knockout round game, and he notched his first assist in the competition after just nine minutes.
Reyna’s new deal is not only a reward for his recent form and arrival on the international scene, but also very much the club’s way of protecting its asset and ensuring his transfer value remains as high as possible with additional years and dollars remaining on his contract.
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If he follows a similar timeline to former Dortmund star and fellow USMNT superstar Christian Pulisic, Gio Reyna would be set to remain at Dortmund for at least two more seasons — until he enters his 20s — before landing the club a massive transfer fee and moving abroad to one of the biggest clubs in Europe. There is no better place in the world for an 18-year-old to continue his development, and the list of suitors will only grow between now and the summers of 2022 and 2023.