Robert Lewandowski’s attitude towards his work at Bayern Munich gives the impression he is staying at the club, coach Julian Nagelsmann believes.
Lewandowski is the leading scorer among players in Europe’s top five leagues for the third season in a row, scoring 47 goals in all competitions in 2021-22 after 48 in 2020-21 and 55 in 2019-20.
He is the only player in Europe to have scored at least 40 goals in the last seven seasons.
But the 33-year-old’s contract has only one year left, and he is reportedly being linked with Bayern – the most notable move to Barcelona.
Bayern have insisted Lewandowski will not be sold, however, he will be able to go on a free transfer by 2023 if a new contract is not agreed to, denying the Bundesliga giants big money.
However, Nagelsmann does not think Lewandowski intends to leave the German champions based on negotiations between the two.
“Yes I would like to keep him, he is an important scorer,” Nagelsmann said ahead of Sunday’s game at Arminia Bielefeld. “You have a contract, there are negotiations.
“I never felt that you wanted to leave.
“But it’s also normal to think about your future, especially if you’ve been with the team for a long time.”
Nagelsmann was speaking on Friday, three days after the UEFA Champions League draw with Villarreal saw Bayern eliminated from the competition in the quarter-finals.
Their failure to reach the quarter-finals in a row will have a financial impact, but Nagelsmann hopes Bayern will continue to invest to get back to the top European table.
“It’s always a bad cycle,” he said. “The team changes, you lose regular players; on the other hand, income is scarce because you do not get that much.
“We really don’t have the money we would have made in the semi-finals.
“You have to decide: are you taking risks, how much are you investing? If you do not take risks, the chances of reaching the semi-finals are low, then also the money is not there.
Now, however, the focus will be on winning the Bundesliga title – that is Nagelsmann’s message as Bayern aim to advance to the Villarreal game, in which Lucas Hernandez and Kingsley Coman suffered a muscle injury that left them skeptical against Arminia.
“There is depression. We will never get another chance to play games of this kind until a year from now,” he said. “We have a year to think about.
“But now we have a goal: we have to win the next two games to become champions. You have to turn that frustration into strength.”
There is another Lewowsowski record opportunity, too, that requires only one goal to become a goal scorer at that time in the Bundesliga season; has 17 on the road so far this quarter, arrested with Jupp Heynckes in 1973-74 and Timo Werner in 2019-20.
Lewandowski’s only away game against Arminia in October 2020 saw him score two goals and help one to a 4-1 win over Bayern.
Leave a comment