Borussia Dortmund: Marco Reus' Legacy in Jeopardy After Germany Squad Omission

It was a resoundingly unhappy birthday for Marco Reus on Tuesday as the Borussia Dortmund man was cut from Joachim Low’s Germany squad to play at Euro 2016 on the same day he cut the cake for the 27th anniversary of his birth.

Low’s reason for Reus’ omission was, predictably, fitness-related. At Tuesday's press conference (per the Daily Mail), the Bundestrainer claimed the former Borussia Monchengladbach man was only able to run in a straight line, citing “massive problems” with his fitness.

Tuesday’s announcement was just the latest personal tragedy for Reus, who had missed the 2010 and 2014 World Cups with injuries sustained shortly before both tournaments began. For all his talent, he will be at least 29 years of age before he plays any significant role in a major international showpiece.

Reus’ misery has not been limited to his career as a Germany international. The attacking maestro has often played brilliantly on an individual level, both at Gladbach and in his native Dortmund. Yet to date, he has never won a major trophy: not the Bundesliga, not the DFB-Pokal, and neither the UEFA Champions League nor the UEFA Europa League.

Having suffered setback after setback, many players in Reus’ shoes would give up. He now faces a turning point in his career, and it’s uncertain whether he’ll turn his pain into triumph or simply fade away.

There’s becoming less room for middle ground between the two extremes, as he has just two major international tournaments left during his prime and faces a colossus in Bayern Munich as his main barrier to glory at club level.

Individually, Reus carried Gladbach in 2011-12, but the quality around him was limited and the player’s efforts only led to a fourth-placed finish. That was a resounding success, but a spot in the Champions League qualifiers was probably the ceiling for that Borussia-Park team.

After moving to Signal Iduna Park, Reus was brilliant for Dortmund in 2012-13 and 2013-14 as he played a leading role alongside Robert Lewandowski. But Bayern again stood between him and glory as they won back-to-back domestic doubles.

Last season was different, in that Reus was not even Dortmund’s second-best attacker—he wasn’t at his fittest, and despite his good tallies of goals and assists, he was neither as prolific nor decisive as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Even without Reus as the hero, BVB managed an incredible 78 points in the Bundesliga, which would have been enough to win the German league in almost every season in history. Perhaps with the local lad at his best, Dortmund would have been able to pip Bayern at least to the DFB-Pokal trophy.

Thomas Tuchel’s side didn’t win any titles in the coach’s debut 2015-16 year, but the season did at least mark a successful turnaround from the previous campaign’s failure that saw them fighting relegation even in the early spring. 

The next step for Dortmund is to start winning silverware. And the only way for them to continue their progress is for Reus to be at his very best. Mats Hummels has already left the club this summer, and the futures of Mkhitaryan and Ilkay Gundogan are still undecided as the pair have contracts expiring in 2017.

Meanwhile, the only newcomers announced thus far are a pair of teenagers in Mikel Merino and Ousmane Dembele. In short, BVB are running out of heroes.

If there is a silver lining on Reus missing out on Euro 2016, it’s that he has a bit of an advantage over the likes of Lewandowski and Thomas Muller in the early stages of the upcoming campaign.

Major international tournaments are extremely strenuous, and Bayern can expect many of their stars to reach the knockout stage. The fatigue factor, combined with many of the Bavarians' key players having a shortened preseason under new coach Carlo Ancelotti, could leave at least a little room for Dortmund to capitalize.

BVB will have a lesser representatation at the Euros, with only Julian Weigl having made the cut for Low’s squad. And working under a familiar coach, those returning late will need less time to adjust.

Regardless of the slight preparatory advantages the Euros will bestow upon Dortmund, there is no chance of BVB taking any titles in 2016-17 without Reus at his best.

He was dealt a hammer blow with Tuesday’s cut and can feel disappointed. But when the dust settles and training resumes, Reus will have to look deep within himself and decide if he sees a winner.

Dortmund needs him to have the best season of his career if they are to stand a chance of winning anything, and he needs to start winning titles if history is to remember him as anything more than an unfulfilled talent.

@Mr_Bundesliga