St. Louis City have had preliminary conversations with free-agent-to-be Marco Reus, sources briefed on the situation tell The Athletic.
The process, though, is very early and the 34-year-old is considering a wide range of options as to where to continue his career.
Reus will leave Borussia Dortmund when his contract expires at the end of June and has also been linked with clubs in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. He remains close friends with St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Burki, who spent seven years at Dortmund before joining the MLS side in 2022.
St. Louis have not put Reus on their discovery list yet, sources add, which underlines how early in the process this is. In MLS, players need to be placed on a “discovery list” — essentially the right to sign the player — before being signed. Clubs have finite space on the discovery list.
Reus, who turns 35 this month, has won the Bundesliga player of the year award three times and lifted three German Cups with Dortmund, as well as reaching the UEFA Champions League final in 2013 and finishing second in the Bundesliga five times. The attacking midfielder will again compete in the Champions League final this season, in what is poised to be his final game with Dortmund, after his side beat Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 on aggregate in their semi-final.
Reus was a second-half substitute as Dortmund beat PSG 1-0 in Paris on Tuesday (Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
Reus has 169 goals and 130 assists in 426 appearances with Dortmund, where he is a legend after rejoining the club in 2012. He has, though, failed to surpass 1,500 league minutes in either of the last two seasons but was still very productive — registering 11 goals and 13 assists in just under 2,800 minutes — in his time on the pitch.
St. Louis has a heavy Bundesliga influence on their squad, led by sporting director Lutz Pfanninstiel and head coach Bradley Carnell. Their three most expensive players all have Bundesliga experience between Burki, Eduard Lowen and Joao Klaus.
The club had an historic debut season in MLS last year, finishing atop the Western Conference. They sit ninth so far in 2024, with seven draws in their first 10 games.
(Lars Baron/Getty Images)
Read the full article here