Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea have been granted an extra life in their pursuit of Marco Reus less than 24 hours after it was announced he had agreed terms with Real Madrid.
Spanish website El Confidencial broke the news that Reus had inked a five-year deal at Santiago Bernabeu.
However, both Borussia Dortmund’s chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke and the player’s agent have contemptuously debunked the veracity of the report.
The former told Bild: “There is nothing to it.”
Meanwhile Reus’ representative Dirk Hebel described El Confidencial’s claims as “utter nonsense”.
Successive ankle ligament injuries have limited the brilliant wide-forward’s progress this term, with his BVB colleagues struggling for goals in his absence.
Nonetheless the 25-year-old produced at much the same kind of ratio as last term in the 11 games in which he featured, netting six goals and assisting three more.
The latest revelations surrounding Reus’ future will give his English admirers new hope but the Dortmund CEO seemed to suggest that Reus is unlikely to move in January in comments at the side’s La Manga winter training camp.
Discussing the Germany international in the context of his return to training following the more recent of his ankle injuries Watzke suggested:
“I can understand that he first wants to play again.
“He will then see where it’s all headed and make a decision. That’s just normal, and it will happen soon. Whether it’ll be four or eight weeks, our luck does not depend on it.”
Chelsea may be particularly interested in Reus, with Andre Schurrle seemingly on his way to join Mohamed Salah in Stamford Bridge cold storage.
Jose Mourinho has seldom trusted the former Bayer Leverkusen wide man in matches where he may be relied upon to assist his full-back.
They don’t come much more industrious than his would-be replacement, who averaged four tackles and two interceptions a game in this term’s Champions League – numbers many defensive midfielders would be proud to call their own.
