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Report: Arsenal Receive Blow In £34m Playmaker Pursuit

By on October 2, 2013

It looks as though we face an uphill battle to try and lure Marco Reus away from Borussia Dortmund with the clubs CEO confident the attacker will remain at the Westfalenstadion despite interest from the likes of Arsenal.

We were linked with the 24-year-old attacker last month and newspaper reports are one again claiming Arsene Wenger is ready to make a move when the transfer window re-opened in January.

Dortmund are desperate to hang on to Reus and would likely demand the full value of the players £34m release clause if any enquiry came in, but the reports suggested Wenger may be prepared to wait until the summer when he’d have more time to try and thrash out a deal.

However, Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has poured cold water on any claims that Reus may be tempted by a move abroad, claiming the midfielders whole life is in Dortmund.

“Marco feels very comfortable at Dortmund and we feel comfortable with him,” Watzke told Sport Bild.

“He has an even closer relationship with the club and the city than Mario Gotze did and I expect him to stay.

“Marco was born here, his family live here and his whole life has always been based here. He knows that BVB is the perfect place for him. I am sure of that.”

I named Reus as one of my ‘dream’ signings in the summer but said at the time that any deal would be highly unlikely for the foreseeable future, and it seems that could be the case.

He only moved to Dortmund from Borussia Monchengladbach last summer and enjoyed a hugely successful first season at the club, scoring 19 goals as Jurgen Klopps men pushed Bayern Munich all the way in the Bundesliga and Champions League.

As Watzke says, Reus’ life is in Dortmund and he’s therefore unlikely to move any time soon. If he was to give the Premier League a try, it probably won’t be until a little later in his career.

But he is certainly the caliber of player we should be targetting from now on. You only have to look at the example of Mesut Ozil to see what adding a truly world class player can do to the confidence of the squad.