Loons player Emanuel Reynoso seen in troubling video
Emanuel Reynoso has a checkered past with guns and another troubling incident has surfaced.
The Cordoba, Argentina news outlet El Doce shared a short video Tuesday of the current Minnesota United midfielder holding a bag with what appears to be several stacks of cash. An unidentified man also is in the video holding the likeness of a handgun and more bundles of money.
ElDoce.tv — according to a translation from Spanish — said the source who shared the video is from the same area where Reynoso’s family lives in Argentina. The source remained anonymous but said Reynoso and friends have been a nuisance during Reynoso’s time away from Minnesota over the previous two months.
Minnesota United midfielder Emanuel Reynoso, right, is in a screenshot of a video posted by El Doce.tv on Tuesday. The Argentina news outlet shows Reynoso holding a bag with what appears to be stacks of money and an unidentified man holding the likeness of a handgun and more money. Via ElDoce.tv
The Loons are looking to offload Reynoso, with Club Tijuana in Mexico’s Liga MX becoming a potential suitor via a transfer deal on Tuesday.
MNUFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Tuesday night.
Reynoso was supposed to only briefly leave Minnesota after making his season debut against Los Angeles FC on March 15. He had a team-organized U.S. green card appointment in Argentina the week of March 18 and the plan was for him to promptly return to Minnesota and continue with the MLS season.
But Reynoso, 28, remained in Argentina and MNUFC deemed it an unexcused absence. He returned to Minnesota around May 10 and was put on a return-to-play protocol that required him to workout on his own for the time being.
Reynoso has had previous run-ins with the law in Argentina. In December 2021, he was accused of hitting and threatening a then-16-year-old boy with a gun in Cordoba. Reynoso was detained in jail for approximately 10 days until posting bail.
When he returned to Minnesota that spring, he addressed that accusation of assault, saying “everything was solved.”
Reynoso acknowledged to the Pioneer Press in 2020 that he was present at a shooting in Argentina in 2017 but said he “didn’t participate.” Prosecutors said at least 20 bullets were fired but no one was injured, The Clarin newspaper reported.
When Reynoso was age 18 in 2014, he said he suffered a gunshot wound in his left leg when he and friends were riding motorcycles. Two other people on motorcycles sped past Reynoso before confronting him, he shared.
“They tried to rob me, and that’s when they shot me,” Reynoso said. “It hit my knee.”
Reynoso also didn’t report to Minnesota for the first five months of the 2023 season and was suspended without pay by MLS. He came back in May and played in 18 matches starting in June. He said that absence was due to personal matters.
Reynoso, who has watched the last two MNUFC games from the stands at Allianz Field, is currently under contract with United until the end of the 2025 season. He is the club’s second-highest paid player at $2.2 million, according to MLS Players Association.
He has scored 22 goals and contributed 20 primary assists in 90 MLS games for the Loons since 2020.