Marco Reus opens up on why he might leave Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus doesn't want to specify a comeback date and hasn't ruled leaving the current Bundesliga leaders when his contract runs out.

Reus, 28, ruptured his cruciate ligament in his knee just before half-time in last season's German Cup final and has since been undergoing rehabilitation.

"I don't want to specify an exact date," he told GQ magazine. "I'll be back on the pitch as soon as my body signals that it's ready."

Reus is enduring his third long spell out in just three years having already suffered a long-term pelvis injury which kept him out of the 2016 European Championships and a knee ligament tear which saw him excluded from Germany's 2014 World Cup winning squad.

'Will my knee hold?'

"It's about trusting your body," he said. "When you go into the first challenge, when the first sliding tackle comes, the first shot, the first awkward turn – obviously you ask yourself: will my knee hold? If it holds, then you know you can play again. But whether that's in January, February or March, I really don't know."

Reus says the most difficult aspect of his recovery has been the loneliness but insists that his friends, his family and his girlfiend have helped him through - and that he would give anything just to be fit again.

"People will say: 'Yeah but he earns so much money anyway,' but that really couldn't be less important," he said. "I would give away everything I have earned just to be healthy again and to do my job, to do what I love: playing fooball!"

Tears

Reus joined Dortmund in 2012 from Borussia Mönchengladbach so, having missed out on the back-to-back league titles under Jürgen Klopp, last season's cup triumph was his first silverware as a professional player – but it was bittersweet, and Reus admitted he cried in the dressing room in Berlin.

"Yes, when I was substituted at half time there were a few tears because it was just so bitter," he said. "It was heaven and hell at the same time. We'd just won the cup, my first title, but obviously I didn't want to celebrate with a ruptured ligament.

"Then two or three days later when I looked back the tears came again. But I think that's only human. It's important to let your feelings out sometimes."

Reus' current contract runs out in 2019. He was born in Dortmund and played for the club's youth teams before moving to Mönchengladbach via Ahlen, but admitted that he would be open to something new. 

"There are four or five teams abroad which I find attractive - that's obvious," he said. "I turn 30 on 31 May 2019 so that will be my last big contract and my last chance to try out something different. I have to be honest and fair and say that I really don't know where I'll end up."