Gio Reyna's First First PL Start 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿; Sergiño’s Permanent Dest-iny 🇳🇱

"The change in mindset and just the way of life here, feeling that family environment. The trust and the confidence from a top team, and being given that right away."

—Christian Pulisic, on why he feels the move to AC Milan has worked out so well for him.

Gio Emerges as ‘Good Option’ for Forest:

Copa America kicks off in 63 days, with the USMNT’s opening match against Bolivia just 66 days away. A little over two months to go before the U.S. men begin their sternest, and most meaningful, stretch of matches before the 2026 World Cup arrives.

Which means Gio Reyna’s 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 first-ever Premier League start for Forest against Wolves on Saturday was quite timely — though some may argue overdue — in its arrival. As we learned during the CONCACAF Nations League semifinals and finals in March where Reyna’s outstanding play saw him named the Best Player of the tournament, the 21-year-old from Bedford, N.Y. is an essential part of the American men’s setup. So him getting meaningful minutes heading into this summer’s storied international tournament gives us our best chance at success against the likes of group foes Uruguay, as well as potential knockout-round dance partners Brazil and Argentina.

Filling in for injured winger Anthony Elanga, Reyna played 71 minutes for the Tricky Trees in the 2-2 draw with their Midlands rivals, and put in a good-to-very good shift (7.5 out of 10 by Fotmob standards) on the day. He even notched an assist off a corner kick for Forest’s opener. You can watch all of his highlights here.

After the game, Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo seemed to rate the American international’s performance as more “good” than “very good,” but gave him solid marks regardless.

“He played good. He gave us good possession. He had good situations, good passing and finishing. He is a good option for us and different to what we have normally. He did OK.”

Next up for Gio and Nuno, a trip to Goodison Park to face fellow relegation battlers — and points-deduction sufferers — Everton on Sunday. As for Gio’s chances of a second-straight start? Most of it would seem to hinge on Elanga’s health, who was reportedly still a question mark for the trip to Merseyside. Nothing like a 16th vs. 17th in the table clash to see how “OK” a manager truly believes you are either way.

Is PSV Sergiño’s Permanent Dest-iny?

Big news out of Eindhoven, as it’s been revealed that Sergiño Dest 🇳🇱 is in talks with PSV to make his loan move from Barcelona permanent.

Dest had an assist, his sixth of the season, in PSV’s 6-0 win over Vitesse on Saturday, and manager Peter Bosz had great things to say about the 23-year-old left back’s (though he normally plays on the right for the U.S.) abilities as a two-way player.

“He has a threat going forward, but he also sprints back just as fast,” said Bosz. “It’s great that we have him in the team. At the same time, he still has plenty to learn, so I don’t think he has outgrown the Eredivisie.”

Born in the suburbs of Amsterdam in Almere, Dest talked about his future with the Dutch club after the match.

"PSV is very satisfied with me and I am enjoying myself here,” said Dest. “We are doing well as a team, we are close to being champions and next year we will play in the Champions League. Everything has to be right and it's up to us to fix everything to reach a good agreement."

Dest was also asked about the season overall, the Vitesse win giving PSV a nine-point lead at the top of the Eredivisie table with just four matches left to play.

“We have seen an upward trend from the start,” said Dest. “I heard how they celebrate it in Eindhoven. This could be an unforgettable season.”

PS: We track American abroad kits as much as their minutes. Check out our Americans Abroad tracker on our Men in Blazers Shop here.

News and Notes:

• Malik Tillman 🇳🇱 (21; Nürnberg, GER) was in the goals for PSV’s 6-0 win against Vitesse on Saturday (Watch). The close-range finish was his seventh goal of the season, complemented by nine assists.

• Yunus Musah 🇮🇹 (21; London, ENG) started and had an assist — his second of the season — in Milan’s 3-3 draw at Sassuolo on Sunday.

• Josh Sargent 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (24; O’Fallon, MO) talked about the upcoming Copa America in a recent interview, as well as his hopes of making the squad this summer. "It's obviously massive. I'm just going to try to take care of business here, do the best I can, and hopefully it gets me a ticket to the Copa America. I think everybody's looking forward to it. It's such a massive tournament, and hopefully we can impress and do some good things there."

• Tanner Tessmann 🇮🇹 (22; Birmingham, AL) did all the scoring in Venezia’s 2-0 win over Brescia on Sunday (Watch). Seems he should drop a Golfing With Busio video before every match. Venezia are now just three points behind Nico Gioacchini (23; Kansas City, MO) and Como in the quest for automatic promotion to Serie A.

• Johnny Cardoso 🇪🇸 (22; Denville, NJ) started and played 90 minutes in Real Betis’ 2-1 win on Friday over a Luca de la Torre-less Celta Vigo (LDLT has not played since suffering a thigh injury ahead of the CONCACAF Nations League semi finals).

• Griffin Yow 🇳🇱 had an assist in Westerlo’s 3-2 loss to KV Mechelen (Watch). The 21-year-old from Clifton, Va. now has six goals and three assists on the season.

• Kristoffer Lund 🇮🇹 (Kerteminde, DEN) had an assist in Palermo’s 1-1 draw at Cosenza (Watch). The 21-year-old left back has two goals and two assists so far this campaign. Palermo are in the Serie B playoff promotion spots with five matches to play.

• USMNT left back George Bello 🇦🇹 (22; Douglasville, GA) had an assist in third-place LASK’s 3-1 upset of top-of-the-table Red Bull Salzburg (Watch). Clip those Wiiings, Georgie Boy.

• What does Kevin Paredes 🇩🇪 (20; South Riding, VA) have in common with Vini Jr. and Kevin de Bruyne? All three are now repped by Roc Nation Sports, a move that was announced by Yo Gotti in this social video.

Parting Shots:

With the season winding down in Italy, and a Juventus-AC Milan clash on the not-so-distant horizon (April 28), Weston McKennie 🇮🇹 (25; Little Elm, TX) and Christian Pulisic 🇮🇹 (25; Hershey, PA) were made available to the media to discuss the season so far, and their feelings about facing one another on the pitch in Italy before playing side-by-side once more in this summer’s Copa America. “It’s more fun playing with him, so I don’t really have to worry about him offensively,” joked McKennie about Puli, who has 13 goals in all comps for the Rossoneri. Wes went on to discuss how he’s settled in at Juventus, last season’s difficult loan spell at Leeds, and Christian’s love of Cheez-Its, while Pulisic talked about rediscovering his self belief in Milan after four difficult seasons with Chelsea. 

Perhaps the most poignant anecdote shared was McKennie talking about, of all things, his fear of elevators. Wes, who still jumps “out of the elevator when too many people get in,” talked about the first time he met Pulisic, a pair of 13-year-olds at a training camp in Carson, Calif. While there, the Juventus midfielder was scared to take the elevator, so Pulisic “used to walk with me up the stairs, like 11 flights of stairs, after training all the time.” Amazing that their relationship would start with a truly human bonding moment as teenagers. No surprise that a duo who have apparently been there for each other off the pitch since day one would have such great rapport on it while wearing the U.S. crest.