Bundesliga
Why Reyna should be in your Fantasy team
The Bundesliga Fantasy Manager is back for 2020/21 with the new season kicking off on 18 September. While Borussia Dortmund have a blockbuster opening fixture against Borussia Mönchengladbach to look forward to, you should be excited about lapping up Gio Reyna’s points throughout the campaign.
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bundesliga.com looks at why the American wonderkid should be in your Fantasy team from the off…
There are 20 midfielders valued at 7m before the start of the 2020/21 season in the Bundesliga's Fantasy Manager. Only two of those play for teams which finished in the top four last season, and only one of those is of the attacking variety.
You guessed it, it's Reyna. The other 7m-valued midfielder playing for a top-four team is fellow American Tyler Adams at RB Leipzig, who is yet to score in the Bundesliga due to his defence-minded position.
Meanwhile, Reyna plays anywhere across attacking midfield behind the striker, floating in and out of positions to find pockets of space in which he can work his magic. So far he's made 15 Bundesliga appearances, two off the bench in the UEFA Champions League and one scoring performance in the DFB Cup by hitting a stunner against Werder Bremen.
Reyna is now a fully fledged member of Dortmund's first-team squad, and this is just the beginning.
"Now, I'm ready," Reyna told Sports Illustrated recently. "Even towards the end of the year, I wasn't fully, like, out of my shell. But this season, coming back, I think a lot will change. Against Leipzig, I think you can see a little bit of it - that I was ready to play. I think now this season, I want to make a really big jump."
Reyna's price makes him an immediate steal considering the simple fact that he plays for Dortmund, the side who have finished second to Bayern Munich in each of the last two seasons, and broke their own record for goals scored in a single campaign season in 2019/20 with 84. Whether he starts or comes off the bench, Reyna is highly likely to have chances to assist or score in every game he plays.
The 17-year-old has already proven his attacking capabilities, providing that single league assist so far for Erling Haaland in 2-0 win over Leipzig at the Red Bull Arena at the end of last season.
That performance from the Sunderland-born playmaker came from starting in the No.10 role, usually taken up by Dortmund living legend, the current club captain Marco Reus.
Reus provides perhaps the biggest challenge to Reyna lining up directly behind central striker Haaland, but with the 31-year-old consistently struggling for fitness - even if he is back in training ahead of the new season - the soon-to-be senior USMNT player could be called upon with increasing regularity as the season goes on.
After BVB host Gladbach on the opening weekend, Reyna and Co. will face two teams who finished in the bottom half of the table last season – Augsburg and Schalke - as well as promoted Arminia Bielefeld among their next five matches. Plenty of opportunity for the teenager to be given gametime, and for you to reap the rewards.
"Gio has a huge future in front of him," Haaland said after BVB's victory at Leipzig. "I called him 'The American Dream'. He's 17 years old, and what he did on the pitch today was amazing."
The former NYCFC youth product started each of Dortmund's final two games of the domestic season and has hit the ground running in pre-season, scoring four goals in just three friendly matches. A fully fit Reus might not get in ahead of the flying American as things stand, so get on board of the Reyna train before his performances – and his price – grow and grow.