Football
Stephan Uersfeld, Germany correspondent 9y

Marco Reus will soon decide Dortmund future - Hans-Joachim Watzke

Borussia Dortmund are expecting Marco Reus to make a decision on his future sometime in the next few weeks, and have admitted that they won't be able to influence the Germany international.

Reus, 25, is under contract at Dortmund until 2017, but could trigger a 25 million-euro release clause and leave his hometown club in the summer.

In spite of a disastrous 2014 for the attacker, which saw him miss the World Cup through injury, get fined some 600,000 euros for failing to complete his driving licence but driving regardless, and also miss major parts of BVB's Bundesliga collapse, the Germany international has been heavily linked with a switch away from the Westfalenstadion.

Dortmund have tried to buy the release clause off him, but have so far not succeeded. Speaking to reporters at Dortmund's winter training camp in La Manga, BVB CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has said that they hope to keep Reus, it is now up to the player to decide.

"I still have the hope that he stays with us for a long time," the BVB chief said. "But if he decides differently, that's the way it is. One of the challenges in football is to benefit from changes in the squad or create other things."

Reus last weekend returned to team training following a third ankle injury in 2014 which he suffered in a Bundesliga match at Paderborn in mid-November.

"I can understand that he first wants to play again," Watzke said. "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."

Watzke also discussed Ilkay Gundogan's future. The Germany international, who missed 14 months of football with a back injury and only recently returned to the BVB team, is under contract until 2016.

The 24-year-old midfielder has been linked with a switch away from BVB in the summer, while reports in the British media suggest that he could leave for Arsenal this winter.

In Germany, there have been reports that BVB have handed Gundogan an ultimatum to either prolong his contract in the near future or leave the club in the summer in order to avoid allowing him a free transfer in 2016.

But Watzke added: "There has never been an ultimatum for Ilkay Gundogan. Two things speak against it. We rarely hand out an ultimatum, and if there had been one you certainly would have heard about it."

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