Dortmund’s Marco Reus prefers watching other leagues over the Bundesliga due to “lack of stars”

The run-of-the-mill argument by football fans (who obviously haven’t watched a minute of the league) is that the Bundesliga is boring. The supporting reason is that “Bayern Munich win the league anyway”, as if that were a parameter to assess the quality of the individual games.

Borussia Dortmund stalwart and captain Marco Reus had an interesting statement about his preferred choice of leagues for watching, but for a different reason than the fans.

“I know the Bundesliga. They have less money than the clubs in England, so it’s difficult to get the absolute top players,” Reus said to OMR-podcast (per @dw_sports). “Honestly, I prefer to watch the Premier League or La Liga when it is FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid or Manchester United vs Manchester City because there are lots of good players I know there,” Reus declared.

Addressing the issue of a ‘lack’ of stars in the Bundesliga, it is crucial to note that the stardom is assessed by how one impresses in the big stages — for example, the Champions League, or the Europa League, or international fixtures. Darwin Núñez became a star because of his performances for Benfica at the Champions League, not because he plays for Liverpool!

Hence, hearing from Reus, whose team could be termed a group of stars if they didn’t so miserably fail in the European stage feels like a comically placed and completely unintended jab at oneself. As far as money is concerned, Villarreal have a fraction of the budget Dortmund do, and yet found themselves winning the Europa League and getting very far in the Champions League too. And what of the current Europa League Meister, Eintracht Frankfurt? Are they not stars?

The Bundesliga is known for producing stars: Robert Lewandowski (who stayed in Germany for eight years before moving to FC Barcelona), Thomas Müller (most decorated German player of all-time!), Erling Haaland, Manuel Neuer, Joshua Kimmich, Christopher Nkunku and even Reus himself. On top of that, the league attracts stars: what of Sadio Mané or Matthijs de Ligt, or even Cristiano Ronaldo, who were and are more than willing to move to the Bundesliga?

The truth is that stars move to clubs where there’s chances of winning trophies and competing in the biggest stages — not to places with deep pockets!

Reus fails to see the fact that every team in the Bundesliga, whether be title contender RB Leipzig or mid-table Mainz 05 have stars. I think Jonathan Burkardt is a star... in the making!

If dear Marco opened his eyes, he’d notice that there was no dearth of stars in Germany.

So here’s a PSA: Keep watching the Bundesliga, for it is football as it is meant to be!