Gio Reyna may have made a mistake joining Premier League strugglers Nottingham Forest with La Liga a better fit for the Borussia Dortmund loanee.
That is according to Taylor Twellman, the former USA international ‘concerned’ about a move he feels will do little to put Giovanni Reyna’s career back on the right track again.
The £13 million-rated Reyna arrived at Nottingham Forest on loan in January, moving to the City Ground after tumbling down the pecking order at Dortmund following a seemingly never-ending spate of injury issues.
And Twellman has a nagging feeling that decision will end up backfiring, a move to rival suitors Sevilla in the slower, more technical Spanish top-flight a better fit for the Sunderland-born 21-year-old.
Gio Reyna on loan at Nottingham Forest
“I am concerned. I’m concerned for multiple reasons,” Twellman, who played 30 games for the American national team until 2008, tells Alexi Lalas’ State of the Union podcast.
“I’d be intrigued to know who’s representing him. If you’re really leaving Dortmund for Forest when six weeks before that, four months before that, Sevilla was the one that everyone was telling me ‘that’s where he’s going to end up’…
“La Liga suits Giovanni Reyna. A relegation battle in the English Premier League does not suit Giovanni Reyna. I don’t care who you are and who’s trying to convince me on that – that’s not going to work.”
Reyna, who once struck up a fearsome understanding with Erling Haaland in Germany and has been labelled a player with ‘world-class’ potential, has played 29 minutes of Premier League football so far under Nuno Espirito Santo.
It remains to be seen whether the £13 million-rated playmaker can force his way into Nottingham Forest’s starting XI. That seems easier said than done, with Morgan Gibbs-White nailing down the number ten spot and the jet-heeled Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi proving effective out wide.
‘Unbelievable’
“He is young enough to still have an unbelievable career. But these are the trying times as a player when you find out who you are and who you want to be,” Twellman adds. “I don’t know if he is going to get that answer at Forest.
“But I hope I’m wrong.”
Nottingham Forest reportedly fought off not only Sevilla but Marseille too, while there was also interest from Serie A outfit Fiorentina.
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