There are not many like Marco Reus in the world of football. Players like him, gifted and talented may come and go, but people like him rarely come across.
A player who has been at Borussia Dortmund through and through, born and bred, loyal beyond any measure, with a dream to win with his childhood club. Even though he did spend a few developmental years away at Borussia Monchengladbach, the prodigal son returned home the first chance he got.
That’s Marco Reus for you. It’s not that the big clubs didn’t flood his mails with lucrative offers with a chance to upscale his career. Not at all. But Reus? The embodiment of loyalty and genuineness as he is, turned them down for the yellow of the Yellow Wall every single time.
It’s also fair to say he is one of the best players ever to don the black and yellow of Borussia Dortmund, just unfortunately ridden with injuries.
However unlucky he has been with the national team and even Dortmund, suffering from time of the sidelines at the worst possible scenarios, Reus has never given up on his pursuit of glory with BVB and that determination is what makes it so much harder to digest his departure from the Signal Iduna Park.
As the club announced earlier this week, Dortmund will not extend Reus contract and he will leave the club on a free transfer at the end of the season. The news, as expected as it was, was met with a lot of emotion on the weekend, when Reus took a lap of honour around the Westfalenstadion after the announcement.
During this heartfelt time for Marco and the Dortmund fans, it was Jadon Sancho, the only player stayed on the pitch and joined in cheering the legend on as a fan himself to bid farewell to one of the greats of the game in his own way.
Reus has been a permanent fixture of the black and yellow squad for so long that he has played with some of the finest young talents in the game that found their footing and emerged at Dortmund. Jude Bellingham, Ousmane Dembele, Aubameyang, Christian Pulisic, the list is endless and stacked with quality.
However, it is Sancho that shares a very personal bond with the 34 year-old German. The gesture from Sancho, applauded by fans worldwide, was not only a bid of farewell to a team mate but to a friend that helped him become who he is as a footballer and as a person.
Jadon Sancho came to Dortmund from Manchester City in 2017, and as a 16 year-old away in foreign land, Reus took him under his wing and tutored him with values and knowledge in equal measure during his rise at Dortmund as a world class talent. Much also needs to be said about the formidable connection the duo had conjured, saving BVB from tripping countless times.
Even after three years apart, their friendship reigned supreme across Europe. It’s no secret that when Jadon swapped the Yellow for the red of Manchester United, he encountered a horrid time at the club, eventually frozen out by Erik ten Hag for ‘unprofessionalism’. During this difficult time for Sancho, it was Reus that was in touch with him to offer his constant support.
Sancho also revealed later on, that he was advised by the veteran himself to return to his roots at Dortmund which has bode him so well to revive his young career. A move that has worked out immensely well for the Englishman.
Nothing could be more poetic when Sancho assisted Reus for his first match back in Dortmund colours almost as to say thank you. “Somethings never change.”, said Sancho after the game, and it showed too. The instant telepathy, it’s just as if they were never away.
This is just exemplary of how Reus has always looked after Sancho. In 2018, when Sancho’s grandmother passed away, the grieving 18 tear-old attended her last rites and flew back to Dortmund in time for training and the subsequent match and put in a marvellous performance that left Reus in awe of his sheer will and mentality. Not many would have seen Sancho put in that shift, something which filled his teammate full of respect for him.
Reus’ connection to Dortmund, the leadership, memories and the love will be direly missed by the Yellow Wall, but his dynamics with Sancho, both on and off the field, is simply not quantifiable.
With his last few days at the club, Sancho who’s own future is unclear as he is on loan from Man United, has urged his team mates to give their all and really push in the Champions League for their captain and legend Marco Reus, to clinch it in an historic feat at Wembley.
It also needs to be said that no one would have predicted Dortmund to make it this far in the Champions League and what they have impressively achieved wouldn’t have been possible without their returning talisman Jadon Sancho, much to the delight of his friend Reus.
With Dortmund ahead on aggregate heading into Tuesday’s Second Leg against PSG for their Champions League Semi-Final tie thanks to a sizzling display by the man on the mission himself, Reus can have his date with destiny before leaving his childhood club behind.
A chance for a perfect sendoff and a fairytale signing off.
