USMNT legend Brad Friedel believes Gio Reyna can still flourish for elite European clubs

Martin Macdonald

• 9 Oct 2025 17:45 CDT
• 3 min read

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USMNT legend Brad Friedel believes that Giovanni Reyna still has the talent to play for an elite European side.

Over the last two seasons Reyna scored only two goals in 49 appearances and chipped in with just another couple of assists. This includes a loan spell at Premier League side Nottingham Forest that failed to take off, as well as his last full year with Borussia Dortmund.

In the summer of 2025, he completed a transfer to Borussia Monchengladbach to try and revive his stalling career and impress enough to earn a place in Mauricio Pochettino's United States squad for the 2026 World Cup.

Once labelled as a wonderkid for the future, injuries and form have left Reyna struggling to reignite his football career.

On top of this, he has been criticised for having a poor attitude and has seen his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) collapse from a career-high €50 million in November 2021 to just €7.8m.

Friedel believes that, if the player can put injuries and other issues aside, he can match those previous expectations.

“Absolutely he could (join another top club)," the former Tottenham and Liverpool goalkeeper told GOAL.

"Look at his age. For whatever reason, his body has broken down in the manner it has. He needs to figure out why and then build.

“He could play at most clubs. Sometimes when players get injured you see straight away that the clubs will realise and then make sure he’s out. Gio’s always attached to big clubs or somebody is looking. They know he can play, that’s not the issue. That’s a good thing. Everybody knows the talent is there. Now he has to figure out how to stay fit.”

USMNT squad for October friendlies

Pochettino named his squad for this week's friendlies against Ecuador and Australia and there are noticeable omissions for the likes of Tyler Adams, Sergino Dest and Gio Reyna due to injuries or personal reasons.

Another absentee is Ricardo Pepi who is a major doubt for the World Cup itself after suffering an ACL injury.

Josh Sargent, Yunus Musah and Joe Scally are still working towards full fitness with their clubs so haven't been selected.

Injuries have indeed dictated some of Pochettino's selections, but apart from that, we are beginning to see what the Argentine views as his ideal squad for the World Cup.

There is a welcome return for Weston McKennie who missed the last round of fixtures, while a lot of hope has been put on the shoulders of Milan's Christian Pulisic who has been excellent for the Italian giants so far this campaign.

Chris Brady of Chicago Fire is the only player that could earn their first cap over these two matches, so it's an experienced group.

Following the announcement of his selection for the squad, Pochettino said:

"It's about giving players confidence and the possibility to fight for a place, and that is a thing that is really important that we are feeling now.

"It's not because your name is one or another, you are going to have the place for sure in the roster for the World Cup and I think that is an idea that we were fighting the last year to try and fix that, change the culture, change the division, change the idea that because in the past I performed in some way or because I did well four years ago, now I have a right to come and use my place because it is my place. I think that has changed a lot."

Goalkeepers: Chris Brady, Matt Freese, Patrick Schulte, Matt Turner

Defenders: Max Arfsten, Cameron Carter-Vickers, Alex Freeman, Mark McKenzie, Tim Ream, Chris Richards, Antonee Robinson, Miles Robinson

Midfielders: Brenden Aaronson, Diego Luna, Weston McKennie, Aidan Morris, Cristian Roldan, James Sands, Tanner Tessmann, Malik Tillman

Forwards: Patrick Agyemang, Folarin Balogun, Christian Pulisic, Timo Weah, Haji Wright, Alex Zendejas

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