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The defender had only one start to his career in 2020 but will now spend the next six months at Benevento, after being caught by the Bianconeri
TaFC Dallas’ entire business model is based on finding and developing young talent, and for most of last summer the club were bracing for the inevitable day when they would have to sell one of the top talent in the world. ‘he ever produced. It’s a day the club knew was coming, time to say goodbye to a player ready to move on.
That talent wasn’t Bryan Reynolds, the American starlet who has now suddenly and unlikely linked with Juventus. It was Reggie Cannon, the star of the US Men’s National Team, who started ahead of him, with Reynolds waiting backstage for his own luck.
Now, just a few months after Cannon was sold to Boavista and Reynolds had the chance, the latter is heading to Europe as well. With just 15 career MLS starts under his belt, he is set to join Juventus, one of the biggest clubs the sport has to offer.
In some ways, it’s hard to understand how quickly Reynolds got to this point. He went from backup to starter and rookie to big money signing in just a few months.
Cannon, a candidate for the starting USMNT right-back position, moved to Portugal under a $ 3million (£ 2.2million) deal in September. Reynolds, the player who served as a backup throughout his two-year MLS career, is now moving for more than triple that price.
If you ever need to convince that a lot can change in just a few months, you should probably watch how quickly Reynolds’ rise has happened.
“Really interesting to see a guy like Bryan Reynolds come on the scene so quickly,” said US U-23 coach Jason Kreis. “It looks like Reggie Cannon transferred years ago, but it was only summer I think. Bryan had an opportunity, just for the last six or four months of the season, and he did. burst onto the scene. “
That’s definitely one way of putting it, but another way to look at it is that Reynolds was prepared for it, even though no one saw it happen so quickly.
After shining with FC Dallas academy, Reynolds became the club’s youngest club to sign in November 2016. He originally signed as a forward, but quickly made the transition to the club. back in what now looks like a pretty smart move from FC Dallas.
He made his MLS debut in 2019, winning one start in 10 appearances, and entered 2020 as a more regular member of the first team. When Cannon was sold in September, FC Dallas had their ready-made replacement in Reynolds, a player who had to take the same path as his predecessor.
Once integrated into the roster, Reynolds excelled. His ability to go into the attack was effortless, as he provided three assists in 2020. At 6 ‘3 “he has an incredible height and, despite the fairly small sample size, appears to be a good cruiser. away from the ball, prompting comparisons in Italy with Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold.
“He’s got a great range in the attack, he gets in good places, he makes smart decisions with his runs, he’s a great cruiser with the ball, probably one of the best we’ve had in a long time. “said longtime FC Dallas. defenseman Matt Hedges. “What I like about him is when he crosses the ball, he looks to spot runners entering the box and he doesn’t blindly cross it.”
It only took 14 departures in 2020 from Europe to see this. Juventus, Roma, Fiorentina and Club Brugge have all been linked for several weeks. Ironically, after a rapid rise, the Reynolds transfer saga was relatively long as clubs battled for the right to sign America’s next football star.
In the end, Juventus won, as many expected. Reynolds appears to be bound for Turin and will join Weston McKennie, another FC Dallas system product, even though he left before reaching the first team.
Like McKennie, Reynolds isn’t just a signature selling shirts or marketing in America; it fills a need. Juventus will see Reynolds as a potential long-term response to the right-back, a player who can step in to replace winger-turned-winger Juan Cuadrado or Brazilian defender Danilo.
By paying $ 10million (£ 7million / € 8million) to sign the young American, Juventus have shown how much they care about them. He will spend the remainder of the season with Benevento, as Juventus have no room for another non-European player on their roster. But, ultimately, Reynolds will have the opportunity to prove he’s exactly what Juventus paid for.
“You talk about surprise at the transfer amount, I mean it’s still good business,” FC head coach Luchi Gonzalez told MLSsoccer.com a few weeks ago. “It’s almost a good deal too, because the young player just needs to play well wherever he goes and the [buying] the club can triple that, quadruple that, if their use of the player is smart and they create an even higher market and value for the player. So everything is business.
“I’m more proud of it than being a skeptic.”
He added, “I would say some of his best performances are on par with any top straight in the league. And he’s still learning. He’s still young. He still understands the game tactically, his defensive positioning and his responsibilities without the ball and collecting the ball, but certainly with the ball, I think he’s as good as in MLS and he’s not yet until 2001 . [birth year]. “
Currently, Reynolds is part of the US U-23 team as part of a January camp that combines the Olympic team with the senior team. At just 19 years old, he could certainly make it to the Olympics this summer, although that will now depend on whether Juventus wants him to participate or not.
But it’s now pretty clear that Reynolds has entered what is suddenly a fierce right-back battle internationally. After all, there’s Sergino Dest, who sealed his move to Barcelona last summer. There’s DeAndre Yedlin, a man who has been reborn in Newcastle in recent weeks. And there’s a familiar face to Cannon too, a player who doesn’t look long after Boavista has prospered with the Portuguese club since his move.
“What we’re looking for in the national team schedule from our away full-backs is that we need guys who can go forward and come back completely,” Kreis said. “We are looking for quality in the third forward and we are looking for quality in one-on-one defense and quality in positional defense to help cover the back four, to reconnect with their back four.
“[Reynolds] is typical, I think, of a lot of young outside full-backs where he has some of the qualities. He has extremely high potential, but he’s still learning some of the finer details of his position. So, really, really interesting to try to keep watching him and hopefully bring him in more often. “
And now Reynolds will be looking to take his next step in Serie A, still a league known for its defense even though that reputation has weakened a bit in recent years. The move is a milestone for a player who entered the 2020 MLS season with just one career start.
All the tools are there, however, and many of them have been fully on display despite his relatively limited first-team minutes. Reynolds could very well be the next defensive star in American football, even though most American fans hadn’t seen him play just 15 weeks ago.
Its rise was, for lack of a better word, meteoric. From backup to starter and starter to signing Juventus, all in a few months. Who on Earth could have seen this coming?
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