Marco Reus is now 33 years old. In the past two years he has had recurring problems with his feet and knees, as well as with various muscles and tendons. He was absent from his club Borussia Dortmund again and again, sometimes for days, sometimes for weeks. That’s how it is when you’re a footballer – although Reus kept failing even when he was young. But so far he has always returned with strong performances and game-changing moves.
On Easter Saturday, in the 2-1 win against Union Berlin, Reus came on as a substitute in the 74th minute, hopped twice on his right leg – that’s supposed to bring luck – and five minutes later, with a bit of luck, he was involved in the winning goal. In the 79th minute, he moved the ball from the outside right into the center of the penalty area, where he put Berlin’s Paul Seguin under so much pressure that Reus took the winning through ball from Youssoufa Moukoko.
Reus’ contract with BVB expires at the end of the season, but now there are increasing signs that BVB will extend his long-time captain again. Reus has scored 150 goals and prepared 109 in 358 Bundesliga games. He is 16th in the all-time Bundesliga goalscoring chart. His most effective season came for Borussia Mönchengladbach 11 years ago with 18 goals and 12 assists, and his best season for Dortmund four years ago with 17 goals and 11 assists (in both of those seasons By the way, his coach was called Lucien Favre). So far this season, Reus has scored six goals and five assists in 18 games, although Seguin from Berlin may have stolen his sixth assist on Saturday.
It is largely undisputed: on good days Reus is the outstanding man on the pitch, on bad days the traditional Dortmund mentality debate attaches itself to him. If Reus also appears in a TV interview on bad days, he can get really upset about the mentality debate. But he can seldom erase them. Critics complain that Reus rarely tears a tired BVB out of the phlegm; that he too often just blends into the daily form of the team, in good times and in bad.
Reus was once found to be too easy for a relevant professional career in the BVB offspring
Loud Picture Reus’ contract will now be extended by another year until 2024, the salary will be reduced from an estimated twelve million euros to around seven million. Reus himself, although suspecting such losses, had recently emphasized several times that he wanted to end his career at BVB. He was born in Dortmund and played in BVB’s youth teams from the age of six to 16. There he was found to be too easy for a relevant professional career, and then only had to prove his suitability at the second division club Rot-Weiss Ahlen and in Mönchengladbach. Gladbach’s then sports director Max Eberl discovered him in Ahlen in 2009. In 2012, BVB redeemed its long-time youth player in Mönchengladbach for 17 million euros.
With 380 competitive games, Reus is currently ninth in BVB’s all-time record list. He can still overtake Lukasz Piszczek, Hoppy Kurrat, Dedê and Lars Ricken (who all became German champions with BVB, by the way). In the club’s gallery of honor he has long since secured his regular place. Which bonus he still achieves will also be shown in the further course of this season. With seven games remaining, Dortmund are only two points behind leaders FC Bayern. The championship title would at least not be a bad antidote for future mentality debates.