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By James Nalton.
Bryan Reynolds appears set to grow to be the most recent American to make the step up from Major League Soccer to European soccer.
Defending Italian Serie A champions Juventus are rumoured to offer FC Dallas a payment of round $10m in return for the MLS membership’s homegrown participant.
Fellow Serie A facet Roma, in addition to Membership Brugge of Belgium, are additionally , however as was the case with the switch of Reynolds’ compatriot Weston McKennie from Schalke, as soon as Juve make a suggestion, they’re tough to show down.
On the face of it, Reynolds has the potential to be a long-term successor to Juan Cuadrado however might be despatched on mortgage instantly, ought to he be part of Juventus.
Cagliari and Benevento are already being touted as a doable vacation spot as Juve can not register one other non-EU participant this season, having already signed McKennie and Arthur.
Replace 13-01-21 – Reynolds will signal for Juventus and be loaned out to Benevento for the remainder of the 2020-21 season.
Youth
The motion of American gamers to a few of Europe’s largest golf equipment is a rising pattern, and one which has seen FC Dallas’ give attention to homegrown gamers come into its personal.
Dallas boast a various academy — one thing that may solely improve as (and sadly we nonetheless have so as to add “if”) academies within the nation transfer away from the pay-to-play system as some are already doing.
This is without doubt one of the methods to make an MLS facet extra thrilling and provides it identification in a single-entity league. The progress of native, homegrown gamers can present followers with pleasure and attachment to their membership, and that is one thing FC Dallas do higher than most.
The draw back of MLS’ rising monopoly of the sport in such an enormous nation, although, is that there was no possibility for a participant like Reynolds to develop at a high-level academy beneath an expert membership in his hometown of Fort Price.
This isn’t a slight on the novice academies who do very important work in communities throughout the nation, extra a name for the golf equipment hooked up to them to have extra alternatives at an expert stage in a extra open system.
Reynolds needed to journey virtually 50 miles from Fort Price to coach within the FC Dallas system, together with his household eventually relocating to Frisco the place the membership’s academy is predicated — one thing not all gamers would be capable of do.
As soon as there, he discovered himself at an academy which is an instance to others throughout the nation. Among the many FC Dallas alumni are the likes of right-back Reggie Cannon now of Boavista, Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie, and Bayern Munich defender Chris Richards.
In 2016, a 15-year-old Reynolds, then a goalscoring winger, turned the youngest participant to signal a Homegrown contract with the membership. At worldwide stage, he has performed with america U16, U17, and U18 groups, however is but to make his senior debut.
A spell with FC Dallas USL affiliate membership North Texas SC in 2019, blended with appearances off the bench in MLS as backup to Cannon, noticed him additional ready for a swap to full-back.
Cannon’s transfer to Portugal in September 2020 opened the door for Reynolds to step into the primary workforce regularly, and {the teenager} might have the potential to be even higher than his proficient predecessor.
“He had an awesome mentor in Reggie,” FC Dallas coach Luchi Gonzalez said of Reynolds. “He’s at all times been shut with him and looking out as much as him.
“That’s why I’m not shocked he’s been capable of step in and compete straight away.”
Fashion
Anybody who’s seen an FC Dallas sport during which Reynolds has featured can not have failed to identify his abilities.
He’s not precisely inconspicuous, and even a scout on the sport to look at one other of the membership’s gamers, Paxton Pomykal, say, can have come away from the sport suggesting a extra in-depth take a look at the 19-year-old right-back.
His 6ft 3in body coupled with explosive tempo and dynamism make him instantly noticeable. Add in a beneficiant serving to of talent and consciousness, and also you get a full again who can stand out on either side of the ball.
In possession, his first thought is to make one thing occur, often by dribbling. Then, as soon as in superior areas, he’ll try to ship the ball into the hazard space. He’s capable of make shorter passes together with his weaker left foot and has good crossing capability together with his favoured proper.
He received’t at all times cross on the first alternative and can generally use his different abilities to get into higher positions earlier than sending the ball into the field.
His supply is various and combines lofted crosses with low drilled balls and cutbacks from the byline. He may also dribble from deeper positions — all of which is proven on his SmarterScout actions map beneath.
Graphic: SmarterScout
Reynolds is powerful defensively and makes use of his physique nicely to defend the ball or knock unbalance opponents in 50-50 challenges.
His dimension gives helpful attain when tackling and intercepting, in addition to being helpful for any aerial duels. His pace permits him to shock opponents in defence simply as it could possibly in assault, permitting him to nip in entrance of them to intercept the ball or assert stress as quickly as they obtain it.
FC Dallas aren’t essentially recognized for his or her urgent, so this space of his sport is comparatively untested. That mentioned, his current attributes ought to lend themselves nicely to this fashion of soccer with some teaching and improved tactical understanding, which also needs to enhance his defensive positioning.
Some Stats
All knowledge used on this part is from FBref.
Full-backs aren’t at all times anticipated to have a excessive cross success price, particularly if they’re usually sending the ball into busy areas, however Reynolds success price of 80% in all fairness good. His short-pass success price is 89%, however these longer passes or crosses are available at 57%.
An instance of why this isn’t a nasty factor is Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose cross success for lengthy passes (greater than 30 yards) was simply 49% in Liverpool’s 2019-20 title-winning season — and the Englishman is extensively thought-about among the best crossers and passers round on this place.
The sort of supply is commonly designed to create uncertainty or chaos in an opposition defence as attackers wait to pounce — it’s extra about supply into the suitable areas than essentially discovering a teammate everytime, although Reynolds can do each.
“He has nice vary within the assault, he will get into nice spots, he makes good choices together with his runs,” mentioned teammate Matt Hedges after a sport in opposition to Inter Miami in October.
“He’s an awesome crosser with the ball — in all probability among the best we’ve had in a very long time.
“The factor I like about him is when he’s crossing the ball, he’s trying to pick the runners coming into the field and he’s not simply blindly crossing it.”
This isn’t to say Reynolds is in the identical mould as Alexander-Arnold. He’s a barely extra direct participant when it comes to working with the ball — a full-back who tends extra in direction of the wing-back definition somewhat the wide-midfielder one, though he’s nearer to an all-rounder than a specialist in both of those.
Reynolds tried a median of two.55 dribbles per 90 in the course of the 2020 MLS season, which places him on a par with full/wing-backs comparable to Kyle Walker-Peters of Southampton or Juventus’ personal Cuadrado. Ought to Reynolds signal for Juve, will probably be a part of a plan to ultimately substitute or rotate with the 32-year-old Colombian whose contract expires in 2022.
A direct fashion of play comes naturally to him as a former winger, and on this sense, he has undergone the same shift to Alphonso Davies, previously of MLS facet Vancouver Whitecaps. Though the Canadian left-back made this transition at a a lot greater stage, with Bayern Munich, Reynolds might be related in fashion as soon as shifting to Europe, even when he doesn’t attain Davies’ stage.
There’s loads of room for enchancment in terms of taking gamers on and selecting when to take action, although his unpredictability when dribbling will be as a lot a bonus as a weak spot.
Tweaked barely, with higher determination making on the ball when it comes to deciding when is the suitable time to take opposition gamers on, his take-on success ought to rise from 50%, because it stood in the course of the 2020 MLS season, to extra respectable 60-70% ranges.
This, in flip, would additionally improve his creativity and finish product, as he could be extra usually ready to supply, however 4 assists from 14 MLS begins final season isn’t a nasty return.
Abstract
Reynolds is one other instance of the triumph of coach-to-play over pay-to-play within the US soccer youth system. Although his improvement spans each methods, the construction at FC Dallas prioritises the event of individuals, not simply gamers, which in flip prepares them for future challenges even when they don’t flip professional.
In Reynolds’ case this future problem appears set to contain a transfer to one of many largest golf equipment in world soccer, following his mentor, Cannon, to Europe, and his compatriot and fellow Texan, McKennie, to Juve.
The signing makes full sense for a membership trying to the long run ready the place all-round capability is more and more essential, and the teaching at Juventus ought to assist Reynold’s construct on a extremely encouraging breakthrough season in Dallas.
Such has been the joy round his performances with Dallas, it’s simple to overlook that he solely emerged into the scene as a first-team common a number of months in the past. Juventus’ determination to mortgage him out for a number of months in a lower-pressure surroundings could be a smart one.
Although the transfer to Juventus will not be but official on the time of writing, whoever indicators Reynolds is getting an thrilling younger participant who could make an impression now, and a possible star of the long run.
{That a} workforce like this have an interest in any respect exhibits how extremely regarded he’s in Europe in addition to America.
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