Robert Lewandowski will head to Barcelona without returning to Germany. Barça reached an agreement with Bayern at midnight to sign the Polish striker for 45 million euros plus another five million in variables. Lewandowski, who turns 34 in August, will sign for the next four years that would take him to be a Blaugrana until 2026.
In the offices of FC Barcelona they have worked against the clock since Thursday to prevent Lewandowski from traveling on Monday to the tour of the United States with the German team. They also wanted to prevent the striker from being part of the official presentation of Julian Nagelsmann's squad, which will take place today at the Allianz Arena at 3:00 p.m. The scenario was not at all favorable for the player, who was exposed to receiving the rejection of a fans hurt with him after a summer where the scorer has made it clear that his priority was to join Barça. “I just want to leave Bayern. Something has died in me, I need new emotions, ”he said from the concentration of the Polish team.
The player's entourage was hopeful throughout Friday that the negotiations with Bayern would conclude soon. Robert Lewandowski will join the tour that Barça starts today in the United States next week. It is not clear when he will be presented but it could even be during the American tour. It would not be the first time that the Blaugrana club has presented a player on American soil. He succeeded Malcom in 2018. The footballer joined the American tour and was presented on July 28 at the Nike facilities in Portland by then president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
Now with Laporta, the club does not rule out Lewandowski making his debut on July 23 in Las Vegas in the classic against Real Madrid after living through a long day of negotiations yesterday. "Hopefully it can arrive soon", they wished from the coaching staff while Joan Laporta, president of FC Barcelona, confessed in Raphinha's presentation that Bayern's response to the last Blaugrana offer of 45 million euros "still" had not arrived. The president, reluctant to talk about the state of the operation “out of respect for Bayern”, did respond about the possibility of learning Polish to communicate with Lewandowski. “Catalans are called Poles, but I don't want to be misunderstood”, he pointed out with a smile.
In Poland, the myth Zbigniew Boniek, former president of the Polish federation and vice president of UEFA, also noted on Twitter that "Lewandowski's arrival at Barça will be 100% a reality." He was not wrong. But he also wondered if it is a "safe operation" financially.
It happens that, at the moment, Barça cannot register him. Nor to the new signings: Kessie, Christensen and Raphinha. The latter signed his new contract yesterday until 2027 with a clause of 1,000 million euros. Barça, which has not made the transfer figures official, has paid Leeds 58 million and another nine in variables. "Samba and jogo bonito are back," Laporta said. “I'm going to give everything so that Barça can be Barça again”, replied Raphinha, who placed Ronaldinho on pole on his list of referents.
To close his signing, the role of another Brazilian, the former soccer player and agent of the player Deco, who also works at the club in charge of recruiting players in the Brazilian and Portuguese markets, has been crucial. The director of football Mateu Alemany explained that the signing of Raphinha "is a classic operation with a commission for the agent". Alemany also explained that in order to register the new signings (also Sergi Roberto and Dembélé) it is necessary to force some departures. Leading the list of transferable for strictly economic reasons is Frenkie de Jong. "The departure of players who do not have the importance of others like Frenkie is more complicated," Alemany justified, ruling out the termination of contracts unilaterally "because it is not the way we want." Apart from Lewandowski, Xavi is also waiting for Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso to strengthen the full-backs and also Sevilla's French central defender Jules Koundé.
