His presence in midfield was quantified in a moment against Ajax where he pushed up to press another Dutchman on his way to Barcelona, Frenkie de Jong and nipping at his heels in the box before the balletic midfielder fell to the ground in his box and nearly ceded possession to his 18-year-old counterpart. The midfielder primed for Barcelona’s first team, managed to find his feet and squirm out of pressure as Reis normally leaves no prisoners in the challenge. It is a wonder why Buijs took so long to give the youngster an opportunity within the first team, even after he performed admirably in his side’s last friendly before the season against Werder Bremen. Perhaps, the 37-year-old who took over the side from amateur football needed the threat of relegation to take a risk in giving the youngster an opportunity as necessity breeds innovation.

Despite the teenager’s limited amount of time in an academy, he is well-schooled at the fundamentals of modern football. He opens his body well to receive possession while he is gifted at charging forward to win possession in counter-pressure. Buijs deployed a 4-4-2 this season where Reis played in the double-pivot with Samir Memisevic or Thomas Bruns. In the pressing phase, Groningen would switch to a 4-3-1-2 with Reis pushing into the ten space to press the opposition while he would be the deepest lying midfielder when Groningen would switch to their asymmetrical shape in build-up.

Reis played in a defensive wide-midfielder position away to PSV Eindhoven as the 18-year-old worked a move from a throw-in to play in Django Wamerdam for an opportunity that led to a corner. The corner was then deflected into the path of Reis who had a volley deflected into the PSV goal from range. In possession, Reis’ game is less defined as when he drops deep to demand possession from the centre-backs, he can be erratic in his distribution which gives the opposition team opportunities to win possession. This is a defect in his game which will need development at Barcelona if he is to develop as a defensive midfield pivot. However, there were games where Reis exhibited clean and calculated distribution from the deeper areas.

In a match at home to Vitesse, he dropped deep to receive possession as he was clever at working the ball through tight spaces and showing an innate knowledge of when to play a one-touch pass as well as turning to drive the ball into the opposition half. Him and his midfield partner will stay in the same vertical line as against Feyenoord, Bruns, Memisevic and the Dutch youth international pushed up to suffocate opposition midfielders to great effect in a 1-0 victory. Groningen also had issues in their build-up structure as Buijs’ side deployed systems where they sought to work the ball through the lines or punt long balls over their midfield and into their attackers.

This created issues for Reis as away to NAC, he received possession to turn and drive the ball into space but had no direct passing options because of inadequate player spacing. At the other end, he took on a pass, cut past a marker and struck a shot from range onto the crossbar. Reis has had issues in possession which have directly led to goals for the opposition as against Heerenveen, he was in a tussle with Morten Thorsby for the Norwegian to outmanoeuvre him to play a ball out wide to Lucas Woudenberg who crossed for Pele Van Amersfoort to head in a goal. There was another instance in Groningen’s last match away to Emmen as Michael Chacon robbed Reis of possession to search for a pass before ultimately deciding to curl a goal past Sergio Padt from range.

It is ironic as although, Reis can concede possession at one end of the pitch, he can easily win possession at the other end. In the Europa League Playoff first leg at home to Groningen, he stole possession from Martin Odegaard for Ritsu Doan to hold the ball and shoot as the Vitesse goalkeeper palmed the ball into the path of Mimoun Mahi, so the forward could tap in. Reis will normally receive possession from his centre-backs to play one-touch passes back to the defenders, so they can use wall-passes to push up and play the ball. His final match away to Vitesse in the Europa League Playoff outlined his weaknesses in possession. In the early stages of the game, a poor clearance from him led to Groningen ceding possession and Odegaard being played through to score.