Borussia Dortmund is quickly and effectively moving on after Jadon Sancho left for Manchester United, to the tune of €85 million. Sancho, 21, is now on a five-year deal at Old Trafford.
Sancho’s vacant No. 7 shirt at Dortmund will be now be filled by United States Men’s National Team star Giovanni Reyna. Gio, the offspring of two former professional footballers, is truly considered to be The Next Big Thing in USMNT football. The BVB official account just posted:
For Club and Country ???7?? pic.twitter.com/V7auumvmdv
— Borussia Dortmund (@BlackYellow) July 28, 2021
Reyna has started to follow the path, in several ways, of fellow American Christian Pulisic, and should he move to a Premier League club someday, like the Chelsea star did, the Reyna comparisons to Pulisic will be pervasive.
BVB have also found their Sancho replacement in the transfer market, and it’s Donyell Malen.
Yesterday, the German giants announced the acquisition of the PSV-Eindhoven winger. Reyna, who now wears a shirt that has been donned by several stars and club legends, has scored four goals and set up five more during his 23 league appearances with the club.
With the addition of Malen, plus Reyna, 18, being expected to take on a bigger role, Dortmund should adjust well to losing their superstar in Sancho. It is expected that Erling Haaland will stay put, and not move to Chelsea, so the Black and Yellow are projected to have a very fierce attack.
We’ll see if it’s enough to end Bayern Munich’s long stranglehold on the German Bundesliga.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.