Robert Lewandowski is The Best and his stats are terrifying – so where’s the Haaland-esque scramble to sign him?
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 09/03/2022 at 12:00 GMT
Robert Lewandowski scored the earliest hat-trick of the Champions League era on Tuesday night, putting three past RB Salzburg inside 23 minutes to help Bayern Munich reach the quarter-finals in style. He may be 33, but he is a readymade superstar and deemed FIFA's The Best player of the past two years. The fact clubs are not scrambling to sign him is baffling, and has been for years.
Bayern Munich's Polish forward Robert Lewandowski celebrates scoring his hat-trick
Image credit: Getty Images
Breaking: Robert Lewandowski is very, very good. So where is the scramble to sign the Bayern Munich striker?
Never mind a hat-trick inside 23 minutes, more specifically it was a devastating 10-minute-and-24-second hat-trick which quickly ended RB Salzburg’s hopes of a Champions League upset.
It had been finely poised at 1-1 after the first leg, with Lewandowski unable to record a shot on target in Austria, but the Pole had other ideas in the second leg back home – recording the earliest ever Champions League hat-trick and reaching double figures in the competition for a third time (also 2012-13 and 2019-20).
Add to that a seventh straight season of 40-plus goals and Bayern have a player capable of steering them to European glory - once more.
Lewandowski’s goals – past seven seasons
- 2015-16: 42
- 2016-17: 43
- 2017-18: 41
- 2018-19: 40
- 2019-20: 55
- 2020-21: 48
- 2021-22: 42 so far…
He is, according to national team captains and head coaches across the world, The Best, and has been for two years, so the fact Bayern have escaped summers of speculation in recent times is to be commended but also questioned.
At 33 he may be a less attractive option than a £64m Erling Haaland in terms of longevity, but here is a ready-made superstar capable of elevating any team, and so it is hard to see why Manchester City in particular have not pushed for the striker, especially when they were willing to spend £125m on Harry Kane – a figure reportedly turned down by Tottenham last August.
That could change this summer but for now it is hypothetical, with various moving parts seemingly required for a club to start pursuing Lewandowski.
Real Madrid want Kylian Mbappe, perhaps Haaland too, while the latter is reportedly wanted by City, Barcelona and PSG as well. If Mbappe leaves PSG, perhaps the Ligue 1 leaders could push for Lewandowski instead, or likewise if City miss out on Haland – but again, it’s speculative at best, a merry-go-round not yet running.
There is also another Manchester club in need of a striker, but it is of course worth remembering that Bayern are no feeder club, they are among Europe’s elite and have no reason to sell. With Lewandowski they are Champions League contenders, without him they would be worse off.
Their only concern will be the whispers that Lewandowski may fancy a change. "I am open to everything. I'm quiet,” he told Sky Sports in Germany earlier this month, with Real and Atletico sounded out as two interested parties.
And so long as he keeps performing in Europe as he did on Tuesday night, the list of suitors could grow. His contract expires the summer after next, meaning Bayern could face losing him for free in roughly 15 months’ time.
It could be a summer of speculation after all.
Scan me
Share this article