Real Madrid: Dortmund give flimsy reason for Reinier’s lack of playing time

Real Madrid fans have every right to be upset with how Reinier’s loan spell at Dortmund has begun, though patience will ultimately be the best policy.

The statistics read like this for Reinier Jesus at Borussia Dortmund: 38 minutes in the Bundesliga, 18 minutes in the Champions League, no goal contributions, no key passes, no dribbles completed. Real Madrid loaned Reinier to Dortmund in the hopes he would be a part of one of Europe’s most exciting attacks, but the Brazilian has barely played for Lucien Favre’s side.

Reinier’s lack of minutes has caused concern in Madrid. The player has never started for the Black and Yellows, and he didn’t even make the squad in the team’s biggest match of the Bundesliga Hinrunde vs. Bayern Munich. Dortmund would go on to lose that game.

According to the Ruhr Nachrichten, via Jose Carlos Menzel of AS, Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc spoke candidly about why Reinier hasn’t been playing.

Zorc said that Reinier is lacking in physical fitness, stating that he didn’t play enough or train enough in Spain to meet the levels Dortmund would like before playing him regularly.

Reinier should be playing more frequently for Dortmund

That sounds like a terrible answer to me. Reinier was playing regularly and impressing at Castilla, which is why Real Madrid loaned him out to a bigger club. And therefore, it’s reasonable to state that’s why Dortmund decided to acquire him on loan. As Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland can attest, BVB don’t acquire just any young player.

So he should be training regularly for Dortmund and has been getting minutes off the bench. There’s no explanation for Reinier’s lack of minutes other than the fact that Dortmund don’t think as highly of him as their other players.

The Bundesliga side certainly have a good collection of attacking players, but Julian Brandt and Thorgan Hazard have exactly zero goal contributions between them in the Bundesliga. So it’s not like Reinier is sitting behind in-form players.

Real Madrid need to maintain a good relationship with Dortmund in order to sign Haaland, but if the club keeps putting Reinier on the pitch, they are holding him back. And that’s something Los Blancos cannot stand for. There are other clubs around Europe, including in the Bundesliga itself, who would relish the opportunity to feature Reinier as a key part of their attack.