Marco Reus: "I want to win the Bundesliga with Dortmund"

Confirmation of Marco Reus' extended contract at Borussia Dortmund ended months of intense debate over where the German would play his football next season. Now, Reus is setting his sights on winning the Bundesliga with his hometown club.

"That remains a major goal for me," the attacking-midfielder says in Monday's edition of the German magazine kicker. "I want to experience once more what happened in the city then.

"I will give everything for that, and I have a strong feeling that it can happen one day."

Dortmund won back-to-back championships in 2011 and 2012 before Reus arrived at the club in the summer of 2012. He cost the Ruhr giants over 17 million euros ($19.9 million) following a scintillating season with Borussia Mönchengladbach.

While Robert Lewandowski and Mario Götze have since been lured to Munich by the current German champions, Reus' new deal until 2019 - which also extends to the second division should Dortmund be relegated - is worth purportedly 10 million euros per year and represents another milestone for the club.

Real Madrid and Bayern were reportedly among the interested clubs had Reus chosen to use a buy-out clause on his previous Dortmund contract which could have been executed for around 25 million euros, according to comments from Bayern's CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.

Throughout the uncertainty, Reus refused to comment - and he afforded praise to his current employers for their "business-like" attitude to securing him on a long-term deal all through the club's problems on the park late last year.

"Here, nobody is wandering around and has made statements which point in the wrong direction. The calmness which has emanated inside and outside at Dortmund during the crisis, shows the strength of the club."

"I made this decision because Borussia is best for me. Dortmund is my home town, my family lives here and I have my friends here."

"And by the way, there's still life after football," he added.

rd/pwh (SID)