All seems to be pointing to Robert Lewandowski moving to Barcelona this summer after the emotional scenes that followed the full time whistle at the Volkswagen Arena, on Saturday evening, where Bayern Munich played their last game of the season.
Six times Bundesliga top scorer awards, five times Bundesliga player of the year awards and eight Bundesliga titles in his eight years with Bayern Munich, Robert Lewandowski ruled German and now feels it’s time to take up another challenge in his career.
The Polish striker, who won his seventh Bundesliga too scorer award by scoring 35 goals this season told Sky after the game against Wolfsburg: “It is very possible that this is my last game for Bayern. I won’t sign a contract renewal.”
“We have to find the best solution for both sides. I told the club that if an offer comes in, then we have to think about it.”
He has enjoyed a trophy laden spell with the Bavarians, winning everything there is to win in club football, including the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup.
Barcelona look set to lure him to Spain with recent evidence showing club coach, Xavi Hernandez is great fan of the former Borussia Dortmund goal getter and Bayern Munich has failed in all attempts to get the striker to sign a new contract.
Lewandowski has a great reputation in front of goal, scoring almost 350 goals for Bayern and another over 100 for Borussia Dortmund. The striker also has 75 international goals and is one of the top four all-time top scorer in the UEFA Champions League.
He is just few goals shy of becoming one of the few players to reach 600 career goals. An accurate and efficient finisher with his head and both feet, Lewandowski is a prolific goalscorer. A well-rounded forward, he is said to possess almost all the necessary qualities of a traditional number nine.
The height, strength, balance, pace, intelligent movement and proficiency with both feet, he is well equipped and he does uses all these to devastating effect on opposition defenders.
However, albeit this deal does impact the system growing at a club like Barcelona, there seems to be severe negatives in the long run than the positive it presents for a short while.
You can’t know better than a manager and there’s no denying it is a positive to have world class players around. Xavi seems convinced that Lewandowski could really help his team with goals but looking at the other aspects of it, including off field issues, there are question marks about how this could be all good after all.
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Lewandowski’s arrival will mean they possess a player who can hit 40 to 50 goals across all competitions in a season and of course, that will be a massive advantage for the side as they look to dethrone Real Madrid of the league title next season.
To also be able to match the attacking talents at the disposal of Los Blancos amidst the financial crisis, getting Robert Lewandowski, who has just a year left on his contract looks a decent deal as not many strikers in the world of football right now comes close to the Pole.
His experience, leadership and consistency will be key as the club returns to the Champions League next season, with Xavi looking to better the impression he made in the competition in his first days in charge at the club, which saw them relegated to the Europa League from the group stage.
While the club will also compete in other competitions such as the league, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup, Lewandowski’s wealth of experience will do a world of good to a young Barcelona side.
And maybe now the club is in need of someone in the limelight, one that can attract sponsorship deals and endorsements having lost Lionel Messi to PSG Paris Saint-Germain last summer, the current Bayern Munich man ticks that box in this aspect too as he is one of the best players on the planet at the moment.
These and more are the positives to think of as Xavi seems hellbent on acquiring the striker. But it comes with worlds of negatives as well, ones that might even be as severe as disrupting a process that is already blossoming at the club.
Looking at the current Barcelona side, where there is Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who can also score goals as Lewandowski, and even a year younger, both as a striker in a team would be great, but do they really complement each other on the pitch ? It’s a sure no.
And many would even question the intention of the manager to want a striker approaching the end of his career when you already have one. You don’t want to build a system where you rely on players who will be around for a very short period, do you ?
Lewandowski will be turning 34 this summer and will arrive as a marquee signing, albeit the club is not expected to pay that much to secure his services, but wage demands and agent fees could be another issues for the club.
Lionel Messi and others was let go last summer because the club wanted to lower their budget due to the financial crisis whilst not forgetting Antoine Griezmann could also be returning to the club this summer because Atletico Madrid apparently are unlikely to trigger the buy option at the end of the loan deal.
Frenkie De Jong’s speculated departure is said to be one of the moves to relief the financial crisis that has engulfed the club, while the club has also shut the door on a possible return of Lionel Messi, 34 in order to solve the inner crisis and promoting a youthful team to dominate the future.
It is also believed that Barcelona wants to move on from the years of over reliance on the Argentine but bringing in Robert Lewandowski, who is almost of the same age is look a step in the wrong direction. Many would even prefer the Argentine be back than getting the Pole.
Yes, maybe Lewandowski continues to deliver at the highest level for two or three seasons more but what next after he hit the downward slope ?
In years past, Barcelona has suffered from delaying to find replacement for the likes of Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta and even Messi, which makes the decision to bring in a 34 year old Lewandowski questionable.
The acquisition of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the winter played well into their plans with the player taking a paycut whilst Arsenal were also responsible for paying part of his wages to leave the Emirates. The striker proved great addition by scoring 13 goals, equaling the club’s top scorer across all competitions this season.
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In fact, during Lewandowski’s time in Bayern Munich, Aubameyang is the only player to deny him a flawless claim to the top scorer award with the Gabonese claiming the award in 2016-17 season before moving to Arsenal in the winter that followed.
Maybe Lewandowski has grown better in reputation with his conquest of Europe leading the line for Bayern Munich but with Aubameyang’s adaptability to the Barcelona system in a very short period, there could be only slight difference between the two, if one is indeed better.
Lewandowski has been leading the line for Bayern Munich for seven years and is already used to the system the club operates. The fact that he previously played for Dortmund also meant he already understood what it takes to be a striker in the Bundesliga. Bayern Munich are also worlds apart from the rest in the German top-flight so that also made it easier for the striker.
Aside the former Arsenal striker, a youthful Ferran Torres also joined permanently from Manchester City and has settled well into Xavi’s plans, scoring six and assisting six since his debut in Spanish Super Cup semi final against Real Madrid.
The arrival of Lewandowski will mean limited impact for the Spanish striker and some of the club’s other attackers, and if more attacking addition is made in the summer, the effect could be devastating for the youngsters, the future Barcelona really want to build.
Leeds United winger, Raphinha is also being linked with a summer move to the club and should that transfer become a reality, it will pose more headache for the Spanish tactician as Ousmane Dembele right now is not a player to be denied playtime.
The prospect of having Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati, Ousmane Dembele, Memphis Depay (if he stays) and Raphinha (if he joins) is great but it would mean that the future will continue to play second fiddle for the next couple of years.
The resultant could leave the youngsters frustrated and seeking to move out of the club in order to get more minutes, which was the same reason Barcelona lost the likes of Adama Traore, Carles Alena, Marc Bartra and the likes in the past.
It is not easy for players who are used to playing regularly to become secondary options. Player like Ferran Torres left Manchester City to get more regular football and won’t be easy convincing such to wait two or three more years before becoming an established starter.
Also, Lewandowski’s arrival will not help solving the financial crisis on time with wage demands, which could also upset the entire wage structure of the squad if the margin is too wide.
This deal could be telling that Barcelona has maybe not improved in their scouting of players but just want to achieve with ready made players. In the past, the club brought Neymar, Arthur Melo and a few more to the limelight but these days, it’s a changed format.
It’s a risky move for Barcelona and Xavi which is not really needed considering only Real Madrid outscored them in the La Liga this season, despite how poor they started the campaign.
Aubameyang has just one year left on his Barcelona contract and with the circumstances that brought him to Barcelona, he is like a heaven sent, one perfect in all ramifications for the successful implementation of the Barcelona project having hit the ground running.
If goals is the reason Xavi is obsessed with Lewandowski, he did have capable goalscorer at his disposal in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang but bringing in Lewandowski might mean slight increment in the goals, but at the expense of many other factors.
Though Aubameyang can also be deployed on the flanks so Lewandowski could lead the line but Barcelona have a lot of youngsters vying for that spot in the likes of Ferran Torres and Ansu Fati. Moreso, the impact on finance might be the biggest blow should this deal be completed.
Nonetheless how the deal goes, it will be interesting to see what plan Xavi has in store to make it all work out for the good of the club. Meanwhile Bayern Munich are reluctant to let the player leave the club as they’d rather see him run out the one year left than let him leave this summer.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
1 Comment
Lewandowski to Barcelona is a very good move. Considering the playing time of other players, I think it'll make them more competitive, and competitiveness in a football paves way for personal development which in turn leads to team development and on a long run, the team is back to the apex level they've always been.
Xavi should try and give playing time to almost all the players and see how they can compete for a spot same way Liverpool are doing.
My opinion