Krishnan Sreekumar
Transfer News: Hasan Salihamidzic confirms Robert Lewandowski will not leave Bayern Munich amid Manchester United interest
Speaking to Sky90 (h/t The Sun), Bayern Munich chief Hasan Salihamidzic has given an update on the future of forward Robert Lewandowski, confirming that he will not leave the club in the summer. This would come as a blow to both Manchester United and Barcelona.
The star striker sees his contract at the Allianz Arena expire next year, and with Bayern not taking any active steps to tie down arguably their best player for a few more years, the talisman was linked with a move away from Germany.
However, Salihamidzic calmed these fears and confirmed that the club planned to open contract negotiations soon, saying that the Poland international was highly appreciated and that the fans love him.
“Of course. Lewandowski is highly appreciated. The fans love him. But he’s our top earner at the club. We also have to look at our financial possibilities and how much money we have.”
Lewandowski was last seen turning up for Bayern in their match against Borussia Dortmund, scoring a goal against his former club in a 3-1 win to hand the Bavarians yet another Bundesliga title. It now means that the club have won an amazing tenth consecutive league title.
“But that’s what we’ll do now”
Despite turning 33, the striker has not shown any signs of slowing down and has continued to be the main man up front for Bayern. He seems to be getting better with age, and his knack of regularly finding the back of the net was seen once again in the game against Dortmund.
For these qualities, Salihamidzic hailed him as the best striker in the world and confirmed that the German giants are looking to negotiate with the player and his agent about extending his contract, which runs until 2023. He also explicitly stated that Barcelona, a team interested in Lewa, would not manage to get for €40-50m.
“I spoke with Lewa. We’ll also talk to his agent. He has a contract until 2023. We have all the time in the world. We have the best striker in the world and we’re proud of that. We haven’t negotiated yet. But that’s what we’ll do now.”
These comments from the Bayern chief will come as a blow to United, who were keen on signing the Polish ace to bolster their attack in the summer. Given how poor the English side has been in front of goal this season, this should come as no surprise.
Cristiano Ronaldo was re-signed last summer in an attempt to add some goals to our front line this term, but after a bright start to life at Old Trafford, the Portuguese superstar has waned in 2022 and has hit some patchy form in front of the net.
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Although we boast of other options in Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford to supply the goals, the former has constantly remained injured while the latter is going through a terrible run of form. Further, with 37-year-old Ronaldo and 35-year-old Cavani expected to lead the line for us, it is not known how much longer either player can keep playing at the very top level.
Lewandowski may not have been the younger replacement the Premier League side needed, but his goalscoring ability has proven that he could help us add more goals to our tally. However, that now seems like a moot point after Salihamidzic’s statements. Hopefully, we set our sights on another goalscorer in the summer – a younger replacement for our current stars, ideally.
