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Gio Reyna – The latest in line from Borussia Dortmund talent factory

Gio Reyna – The latest in line from Borussia Dortmund talent factory

Giovanni Reyna is the latest addition to Borussia Dortmund’s long list of talented youngsters scouted by the hierarchy, in order to provide them with the platform to make the first step in a potentially impressive career in football.

The club has developed a bit of a reputation to be a selling club with a clever transfer policy: they are willing to sell their best assets for a significant amount of money, only to scout a youngster with a similar profile in no time.

The 17-year-old wonderkid is the recent inclusion in a list consisting of the likes of Shinji Kagawa, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ousmane Dembélé and Reyna’s compatriot and US national team captain Christian Pulisic.

Dortmund’s sporting director Michael Zorc coaxed £57.6million out of Chelsea for Pulisic’s signature, who was not even starting at the time for the club: and the American Reyna, signed on a free transfer, has put on a very impressive start to the season as he wants to step into his predecessor’s shoes.

Football statistic website WhoScored has ranked him as the highest rated teenager in Europe’s top five leagues so far this season, with a rating of 8.14 out of 10. Ansu Fati of Barcelona ranks second while Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka is in third position.

Reyna has racked up a goal and three assists in Dortmund’s first three games in the Bundesliga this season, with all three of his assists coming in a 4-0 win against Freiburg.

A club who were on the brink of bankruptcy as recent as in 2004, Dortmund pegged back and remained competitive with the incredible Bayern Munich with their smart transfer policy: they looked to play their cards in a different way in order to still be able to play with the big boys of Europe.

Gio Reyna might turn out to become a football superstar and a massive source of profit for his present employers in the future, and history suggests that there is no better place he could be at than the best finishing school for unpolished, raw talents: the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund.