Coming back to this, my guess it's a combo of: - Gio is not 100%, and he's a teenager* who's played 800 club minutes in the last 18 months so he's being kept on a strict leash - Gio is not a vertical threat(especially given the injury risk), so he doesn't help the team as much in certain game states - Gregg doesn't rate Gio's defensive work as highly as others, which means he doesn't rank as highly as other options in certain other game states - Gio is not a clean fit at any position in the US formation, he's not a pure winger in the way that Pulisic, Weah, or Morris are(and Aaronson can be), and he's not enough of an engine room guy to be one of the 8s(which Aaronson only gets away with due to his 80 grade work rate) *he turned 20 two weeks ago