Robert Lewandowski’s hasty exit from Bayern Munich is something that fans still lament.
Even at the tail end of his prime, Lewandowski was a lethal goal scoring threat and it was immediately proven that that the Bavarians would have a hard time replacing the Polish Hitman. While Lewandowski had a disconnect with head coach with Julian Nagelsmann over how the attack functioned, the veteran striker was very upset about sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić’s attempt to get Erling Haaland.
Lewandowski
felt betrayed by the action per Robert Lewandowski’s biographer, Sebastian Staszewski, who authored the book, ‘Lewandowski. Prawdziwy.’ Per Staszewski, Lewandowski was negatively affected by the Haaland pursuit and how the club tried — but failed — to keep it a secret (via @iMiaSanMia):
“Hasan Salihamidžić called Haaland’s agent. (…) Pini Zahavi (Lewandowski’s agent), who had his spies, and Lewandowski quickly learned about it. Although it hurt Robert, he didn’t seem to mind; he was still himself, scoring goals. (…) In reality, however, he was having less and less fun playing at the Allianz Arena
“When, during a conversation in the lounge of a small airport for private jets, Zahavi asked Salihamidžić if it was true that Bayern wanted to buy Haaland, he denied it without batting an eye. Yet both Zahavi and Lewandowski knew about it, having met Haaland’s father, Alf-Inge, at a nightclub, and thus learned that talks were already underway.”Lewandowski himself then said: “That was Bayern’s biggest mistake. Their bosses lied to me. After so many years, I deserved honesty and respect. If they had simply told me their plans openly, I probably would have even advised them. But they didn’t. And I was already far too old to be treated that way.”
When Lewandowski made it clear that he wanted out, Bayern Munich tried to save face with a lucrative offer, which Lewandowski turned down:
The biographer then says that when Lewandowski publicly said that he wanted to leave Bayern, “In an act of desperation, Bayern responded by offering him a one-year contract with an option for an additional year. Including bonuses, the deal would have earned him close to €30million per season.”
Lewy stood firm and rejected the offer – an offer that would have satisfied him just a few months earlier. Bayern’s flirtation with Haaland convinced him that something had come to an irreversible end. Haaland was not the only reason behind the separation, but he became the catalyst for Lewy’s actions.
As for Haaland, he felt bad for Lewandowski and felt as if Bayern Munich dissed its star striker;
Haaland himself showed understanding for Lewandowski and said in a Viaplay documentary: “If you put yourself in Lewandowski’s shoes – I don’t even know how many goals he scored for the club or how many titles he won – you can’t help but sympathize with him. I think it was a lack of respect toward him.”
BFW Analysis
While not necessarily new, this account of the time does bring fans inside what Lewandowski was feeling and why there was such a sudden change of heart. A chance meeting with Haaland’s father being the nail in the coffin was an odd twist to the story that had not previously been reported on. What were the chances of that?
Regardless, after a season of pain playing striker-less, Bayern Munich was compelled to go out and get Harry Kane. While no one wanted the Lewandowski Era to end the way it did, at least the club realized the error of its ways and went out rectified the striker situation.
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