Why tonight's Fulham trip could decide this Dortmund defender's next move
Eight Bundesliga games last season, then a full ninety in Europe against Atalanta. Tonight Luca Reggiani flies to West London for an under-21 tie, which is not the direction an 18-year-old wants his career heading.
Ruhr Nachrichten report that Justin Lerma, Kauã Prates and Mathis Albert travel with him. All four should start for Daniel Rios. For three of them that's a fine night's work. For Reggiani it looks more like an audition he shouldn't still be sitting.
The case he has already made
He started last season in the U19 league. He finished it in Niko Kovac's back three. In between came 513 minutes across eight Bundesliga appearances, plus the full ninety of a 2-0 win over Atalanta in the Champions League. No head coach hands that night out as a favour.
The under-21 stage is the right one for Lerma and Prates, who both arrived this year and need games badly. Reggiani is a different case. Ten months ago he was playing a full Champions League tie against Serie A opposition.
Dortmund's summer has been one long argument for promoting from within. Lars Ricken keeps explaining the club's youth-first recruitment to anyone with a microphone. Four of this window's arrivals were 18 or younger. Reggiani fits that pitch better than any of them, because he cost nothing and he has already done the job.
Who is standing in his way
Filippo Mane, mainly. That's the read coming out of Brackel. Fans wouldn't argue with it. Joane Gadou belongs above Reggiani too, on the strength of what Salzburg charged for him.
Above all three sit Waldemar Anton and Ramy Bensebaini, who should start against Hamburger SV on Saturday whatever happens tonight. Nico Schlotterbeck still has no return date. Bensebaini spent Saturday night in hospital having a bruised rib looked at. So the back three is hardly set in stone.
Kovac's problem isn't a shortage of centre-backs. It's that the ones he trusts keep picking up knocks. If one more of them goes down before the international break, Dortmund will want a defender with Bundesliga minutes on him rather than one playing under-21 football in England.
A big performance at Fulham won't put Reggiani in Saturday's XI. It should decide whether his next twelve months happen in Dortmund or on loan somewhere he'd play every week. Lerma and Takato Yamamoto both shone in pre-season and shoved their way into the conversation. Reggiani has more to prove than either of them.
Verdict: He's too good for under-21 football and not yet trusted enough for Saturdays. Something gives before Christmas.
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