Manchester City’s longstanding core of magnificent players stood up and made themselves counted in the recent Manchester derby. Their captain Vincent Kompany was imposing and imperious, Pablo Zabaleta was eminently industrious, Yaya Toure rediscovered his intimidating swagger and Sergio Aguero was forensically clinical in front of goal.

These are players that—Aguero aside—are approaching or already older than 30 years old. But showings like this prove they still have plenty to offer and despite the critics that have come Manchester City‘s way this season, they will continue to do so for a few seasons yet. But it’s critical that the champions—who possess the oldest average squad in the Premier League, per the Manchester Evening News—look towards the future. And there’d be few better candidates to spearhead their march into a new era than Marco Reus.

The Borussia Dortmund man looks almost certain to leave the Westfalenstadion, with a release clause of £19.5 million set to become active at the end of the season. And according to Ralph Ellis of the Daily Mail, the Etihad outfit are set to offer the German international £200,000 a week to lure him to the north-west of England.

After Mario Gotze and Robert Lewandowski traded Dortmund yellow for Bayern Munich red in the two summers just gone, almost inevitably, Ellis’ report suggests that the German champions are also interested in the 25-year-old, while Ben Jefferson of the Express has claimed that the player is holding out for a move to Barcelona.

A premium of £19.5 million would be a snip for Reus, a forward who’s blossomed into one of European football’s finest under the tutelage of Jurgen Klopp. With that in mind, it’s little surprise that some of the most illustrious names in the game are in hot pursuit of the former Borussia Monchengladbach man. And while the likes of Bayern Munich and Barcelona have a stature and gravitas that currently surpasses City’s, Reus should push for a move to the Etihad.

Reus would surely be wary about a move to Bayern. Not only are they by far and away the most dominant team in the Bundesliga, but they’re a side stacked with high quality attacking options. Indeed, his former teammate Gotze struggled to find his feet initially, and although he’s started this season in prolific form, whether he makes it into Bayern’s best XI remains a topic for dispute.

Reus also admitted back in January that the German champions will “never have me”, per Danny McCann of The Mirror.

The same applies at Barcelona and if Reus was going edge his way into the first team in Catalonia, he’d have to oust one of Lionel Messi, Neymar or Luis Suarez; a virtually impossible challenge, even for a player of his great quality. In addition, he’d have to hang fire on any potential move away from a toiling Dortmund side, with the Blaugrana currently serving a transfer ban that runs until January 2016.

But at City, not only would the German international be one of the first names on the team sheet, he’s the kind of player that has the class and the temperament that’ll ease the English champions towards a new phase of their history.

His scintillatingly direct running, on-field intelligence and ruthless eye for goal would be see him fit seamlessly into Manuel Pellegrini’s XI and at 25, he’s a young player that has his peak years ahead of him; Reus is exactly the type of player City need to start looking at.

Despite their struggles in Europe and stuttering start to the Premier League season, City are a team that are going places and while the prospect of joining up with the likes of Bayern and Barcelona is an opportunity that the majority of young players would be at loathe to miss out on, would either club present a challenge as enticing as the one that’ll potentially face him in the Premier League?

It’s an opportunity that City must sell to the player, for while they have myriad attacking players on their books at the moment, they have nobody with a coalescence of attributes that’d enhance this team’s attacking forays quite like the Dortmund man’s. He’d be a simply magnificent accompaniment for the likes of Aguero, David Silva and Samir Nasri.

It’ll be sad to see Reus—a boyhood Dortmund supporter—follow Lewandowski and Gotze out of the door, but he’s remained loyal to his current employers while others were immediately tempted by the lure of Bayern’s riches. Klopp built a team that went to the brink of Champions League glory in 2013, but gradually it’s been pulled apart.

At the time of writing, Die Borussen are joint last in the Bundesliga and although their No. 11 has a clear affinity with the supporters and his charismatic boss, he’ll know a move is necessary if he’s to regularly challenge for the game’s most revered honours.

Such is the calibre of teams like City, Bayern, Barcelona and indeed, a plethora of very top sides that’ll surely be in the market for an effervescent and adaptable attacker, big honours are a mere inevitability for Reus regardless of who he eventually does sign for.

But if he wants to play in the most competitive league in the world and be continually motivated by both domestic and European challenges, City should be his team of choice. And the Etihad hierarchy must do everything in their power to make sure it happens.

Follow Matt on Twitter @MattJFootball