Despite being injured on the eve of his country’s first major Championship win in eighteen years, Marco Reus’ stock on the international market only seems to have risen this year, thanks to some inspiring performances in the Bundesliga and, indeed, in the Champions League. With another excellent years behind him – and rumours that Reus himself perhaps sees his future elsewhere – it’s clear to see why Premier League clubs (and indeed some of the other large clubs across the continent) would covet the former Ahlen and Mönchengladbach attacking midfielder’s signature. But does Marco Reus have the qualities to make it in English football – and, more importantly, would Marco Reus intentionally force a move away from his boyhood club, Borussia Dortmund, having turned down other offers just two years ago to link up with Jürgen Klopp’s men?
Followers of German football will know that, to fill the vacuum that a lack of regular, top-level football has led the media to draw out a frankly irritating spat between Bayern München’s Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Borussia’s Hans-Joachim Watzke, with the former essentially trying to tap up Marco Reus, with Watzke responding furiously to rumours that Reus’ buy-out clause is lower than originally touted (just rumours at this stage – Dortmund are quite rightly refusing to release the details of Reus’ contract). It’s a typical case – yet again – of Bayern playing the villain and Dortmund not being able to rise above the churlish behaviour of the Rekordmeister’s hierarchy. While it’s certainly hard to see Reus opting for a move to Bayern, given that Bayern were perhaps the biggest club he turned down back in 2012, if he is indeed to leave Dortmund at some point in the near future, Rummenigge’s quotes will no doubt have awakened some interest from other European heavyweights, with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Atletico Madrid linked with the highly-rated forward. A deal of €25m – lower than the originally reported €35m buyout clause – would be a steal for arguably the best Bundesliga midfielder of the last 3 or so years.
Importantly, though, any buyout clause in Marco Reus’ contract with Dortmund – which runs until 2017, thus leaving die Schwarzgelben with a large element of control in any move for Reus this summer – means Reus will definitely stay at the Westfalenstadion this season at least, barring any ridiculous offers, which would almost definitely be an offer which far outstretches the value of either reported clause – the all-important point about Reus’ contract is that, even with a buyout fee agreed with Reus, this clause wouldn’t kick into action until next summer (in 2015), leaving Dortmund with a year to try and propel contract negotiations forward.
Should these discussions not come to pass and Marco Reus is in a situation to leave Dortmund next year, though, should he? The Premier League is an enticing prospect, surely, as would be La Liga (any move elsewhere would be for money, and is therefore not worth discussing, let’s face it) – but does Marco Reus have the attributes to make it in another of Europe’s top leagues?
Well, yes. That’s abundantly clear to anyone who’s watched him in pretty much any game since he broke into the Germany squad before Euro 2012. Reus combines pace, which is all important in the modern game, at least for a player in the mould of a Number 10/winger, two positions he’s flitted between at both of the Borussias he has on his playing CV, with bags of technical ability, which has always been important at the top level of the game. He’s deadly in front of goal; netting sixteen for Dortmund last season, with only two from outside of the box – his skills in one-on-one situations are undoubted. A passing percentage of 75% for a creative player in Reus’ position – remember that a lot of the missed passes will have been crosses and speculative balls into the frontman – is very good, given that he managed thirteen assists and a further 77 key balls last season; Reus is a player who plays towards goal, playing the ball forward more often than not, and looking to unlock defences at every opportunity.
There aren’t really many parallels to other German players in his position, which makes it hard to tell how quickly he’d fit into English football, however. Mesut Özil is the biggest name from the Germany squad to have plied his trade in England in the past few years, for Arsenal, but had three years of experience playing in Spain as a buffer between his time in the Bundesliga and his switch to England; Andre Schürrle moved to Chelsea in the same window, last year, and was by and large impressive in his debut Premier League season, but plays a vastly different role to Reus – as a winger at Mainz and Leverkusen, even before his switch to Chelsea where he often played up front, Schürrle was in the team much more to score goals and supplement overall attacking play than creating chances from nothing himself; while Reus scores, too, he’s a player you’d much rather see from deep in comparison to the Chelsea man. Marko Marin is the other high profile name to make the switch to England in recent years, but nobody actually rated him in the first place, so let’s just pretend that disaster didn’t happen. Overall, though, it’s hard to say that a move to the Premier League at this stage in Marco Reus’ career would be either a positive or negative thing; it would just be another step that could help improve the Dortmund–born attacking midfielder, a development which would likely take place by playing at Dortmund anyway. The main thing is that Reus doesn’t undersell his quality by moving to a smaller club than Dortmund – Atletico Madrid being the obvious team linked with him who it’d be counterproductive to join – or a club where he’s likely to not win as many trophies as at Dortmund – Liverpool being the obvious club here, but the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal have also been linked and aren’t necessarily a massive step up. Moving now – or next year – would probably be a mistake, given that Reus is already at a big club where he is a big player – moving to a larger club would make him a less important player which, at his age, isn’t a move that should be necessarily applauded, while going to a smaller club is not ambitious in the slightest. Can Marco Reus succeed at Premier League level? Yes, obviously. Should he make the switch, though? Maybe not. While Dortmund would no doubt replace him – they did the same with Kagawa a few years ago, and with Götze last summer – it’d be a shame to see Reus taking a step to the side in terms of his career, given that his time at Dortmund has gone, thus far, incredibly well, and having been recently appointed vice-captain by the club, seems to hold a lot of promise and prestige moving forward. – See more at: https://tbrfootball.com/wp-admin/revision.php?revision=11594#sthash.puRV29sz.dpuf
