After asking for patience from Robert Lewandowski, it seems to finally have paid off as Barcelona have come to an agreement with Bayern Munich for the Polish striker.
Robert Lewandowski will sign the contract with Barcelona during the weekend, already agreed since last February. Bayern will receive €50m add ons included. 🚨🇵🇱 #FCB
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 15, 2022
Lewandowski didn’t want to discuss with Chelsea or PSG despite many approaches: only Barcelona, like Raphinha. pic.twitter.com/Q1WUsywyU2
The Catalan giants will pay Bayern a €45 million fixed fee with a potential €5 million in add-ons bringing the total transfer fee to a possible €50 million.
Relevo rectify: He'll sign for four years.
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) July 15, 2022
Similar to Leeds United’s Raphinha, Lewandowski had his mind made up that not only did he want to leave his team – Bayern Munich – but the only team he wanted to go to was Barcelona.
Chelsea and PSG were two other clubs interested in him but he was not wavering from his original stance.
Barcelona were desperate for a world class striker following the departure of Luis Suarez. They had been in the market for one even when the Uruguayan was still there.
They went out and got Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Arsenal during the winter transfer window but knew they still needed someone like Lewandowski if they wanted to be contenders for the Champions League.
Lewandowski did all he could to force a move and was quite open in his press conferences while on international duty with Poland. He stated that “something died” in him and he needed a change of scenery.
Despite Bayern repeatedly referring to the year left in his contract, the writing was on the wall and the German club knew it was futile trying to keep a player who didn’t want to be there.
Some may point to his age and wonder why Barcelona would spend so much on a 33-year-old. But as we’ve seen, veteran strikers are still performing and putting up numbers. Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema is a prime example.
In the Bundesliga alone, Lewandowski scored 35 goals in 34 games. In the Champions League, he scored 13 goals in 10 games. He’s proven that he can still be effective at the highest level and will hope to replicate that with Barcelona.
Lewandowski is expected to join Barcelona on their USA tour. He becomes Barcelona’s fifth signing of the summer alongside Pablo Torre, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen and Raphinha.