Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona: Bayern Munich star forward on verge of joining La Liga giants

With the acquisition of Robert Lewandowski all but done, Barcelona are set to be back in the La Liga title race in 2022-23 — providing that they can register their new signing. Back in May, Lewandowski said, “My era at Bayern is over. I don’t see any possibility to continue playing for this club anymore.” While he did return to preseason training for the German side, there was an expectation that Barcelona would eventually find a way to hit their asking price and they did just that.

CBS Sports insider Fabrizio Romano has reported that Barcelona and Bayern have reached a deal and that the Polish international will sign a three-year contract with Barca this weekend.

Lewandowski is the second leading scorer in Bayern club history with 344 goals in just 375 matches in all competitions, and he has won everything that there is to win. After missing out on another Champions League title with Bayern, there is the chance that winning the German League wasn’t enough to satisfy him this year, but it’s also interesting that Barcelona were able to get a deal across the line.

While they’ve already added Raphinha in a deal worth around €75 million, Lewandowski’s fee could be another €50 million, CBS Sports’ Ben Jacobs reports. They’ve eased some financial pressure with a sponsorship deal with Spotify, but questions still loom on how Barcelona will be able to register their new players. Selling Frenkie de Jong could help with Manchester United ready to pay up to €85 million for the Dutch midfielder, but he won’t leave without getting the €17 million in deferred wages that are owed to him.

If history has taught us anything it’s that Barcelona finds a way to worm their way out of financial pressure but it gets harder each time as their debts grow to a point that teams have to include extra fees for late payments. Lewandowski will certainly be a great signing, making Memphis Depay potentially expendable, but more players will likely make way before Barcelona needs to have a compliant roster. This transfer domino could also impact Cristiano Ronaldo’s future as Bayern weren’t interested in his services but they publicly didn’t want to sell Lewandowski either.