USMNT star Gio Reyna backed to be 'the signing of the January transfer window' after joining Nottingham Forest despite no longer being in 'same category as Jude Bellingham & Erling Haaland'

To the surprise of some, United States international playmaker Reyna opted to head for the City Ground on deadline day as the winter recruitment window came to a close. With game time proving to be in short supply at Borussia Dortmund, life in the Bundesliga has been traded for that in the Premier League.

Reyna has endured his fair share of injury issues in recent times, which have prevented his true potential from being fully unlocked, but he should get plenty of opportunities to impress at Forest. If the Reds can get him firing alongside the likes of Morgan Gibbs-White and Anthony Elanga, then relegation fears in Nottingham should begin to ease.

Earnshaw, who spent time with Forest and in MLS during his playing days, has told LiveScoreBet: “Gio Reyna is not very well known here, but he is super well known in Germany, I've seen him since he was 17 and he was in the same category as Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland. A few years ago, I think everybody was looking at him. In the last probably year-and-a-half he's kind of dipped a little bit in form but is still a quality player. Gio Reyna could potentially be the signing of the January transfer window. He likes to play on the left or the right, sometimes as a number 10, but he's in that creative mould. You talk about Morgan Gibbs-White at Forest, who has had a couple of injuries recently, but he'll fit straight in there.”

While Reyna may not have hit the heights of former Dortmund team-mates Haaland and Bellingham just yet, time is still on his side. The 21-year-old, who boasts 24 senior caps for the United States, made his Forest debut off the bench in their 1-1 draw with Bournemouth and will be looking to make his home bow for new employers against Newcastle on Saturday – as he is ineligible for an FA Cup replay with Bristol City.