Claudio Reyna figures in the rebuilding plans of Bayer Leverkusen, while it appears that Tom Dooley does not.
The Bundesliga club, which is finishing a disappointing season, plans on re-signing the 21-year-old Reyna. Dooley, 34, has been linked to Schalke 04 and Waldhof Mannheim, a Second Division club poised for promotion.
Both Americans have been playing for Bayer Leverkusen’s reserve team and Dooley scored in a 1-0 win over Borussia Moenchengladbach’s reserves May 10. That game marked Reyna’s first full match since suffering a shoulder injury in February that required surgery.
Reyna has played only for the reserves since joining the First Division club last August. Dooley, an eight-year veteran of the German First Division, joined the reserves because he lost his starting position with an injury in November and has been unable to regain it, even after Erich Ribbeck replaced Dragoslav Stepanovic as coach in April.
“I’ve been practicing for two weeks,” said Reyna, who spent two months rehabilitating in the U.S. “I feel good. We have qualified for the reserve round playoffs, so that will give me at least four games to get back in good shape.”
Reyna hopes to play for the U.S. this summer, but will remain in Germany to play for Leverkusen in the UEFA-Intertoto Cup, a 60-team European club tournament that will reward the top four teams with UEFA Cup spots.
Reyna hopes that playing this summer will lead to his First Division debut next year.
“This season we had 32 players,” Reyna said. “[Ribbeck] wants to have only 22 or 24 players next season. Less numbers will be better for everyone.”
The club has indicated that Reyna — a veteran of all levels of the U.S. national team program — fits into its future plans, possibly as a successor to playmaker Bernd Schuster, who Ribbeck moved to sweeper.
Leverkusen had seven foreigners — only three can play — on its books this season and plans on paring that number down. Taifour Diane of Guinea, an APSL star in 1992 and 1993, is trying out with other German clubs, while Romanian Ioan Lupescu has stated his intentions on leaving. Lupescu, Brazilian Paulo Sergio and Czech Pavel Hapal were Leverkusen’s usual foreign starters. The German-born Dooley is not considered a foreigner.
by Soccer America Senior Editor Mike Woitalla