Bayern agreed to sell Lewandowski to Barcelona
Barcelona will pay Bayern $45 million in advance and will pay an additional $5 million surcharge based on Lewandowski's performance. The Polish striker will fly to Spain today (July 16) for a medical before signing a three-year contract with the option of extending it for another 12 months.
Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano announced a similar message and used the keyword "let's go" for the deal. According to the Italian expert, it was Lewandowski who asked Bayern to let him leave the team on Friday July 15th in order to join Barcelona this weekend.
Lewandowski will travel to the United States with Barcelona next week, according to British newspaper Sport Mail. The Harvey faculty are expected to play Inter Miami in Florida on July 20, Real Madrid in Nevada on July 24, Juventus in Texas on July 27 and New York RB in New Jersey on July 31 in friendlies.
If he passes his medical, Lewandowski will become the third most expensive striker in Barcelona history, behind Luis Suarez ($85 million) and Zlatan Ibrahimovic ($70 million for Eto'o).
Lewandowski will become Barcelona's fourth rookie this summer. Despite the financial difficulties, Barcelona paid $122 million for Lewandowski and Rafinha-the midfielder worth $72 million from Leeds United. In addition, the Nou Camp boss also welcomed Frank Casey and Andreas Christensen as free agents. Ousmane Dembele can also count as another free agent, as he only signed a new deal with Barcelona after his old contract expired on July 1.
However, Barcelona had to sell players and reduce salary funds to register the above five rookies. They struck a deal to sell Frankie De Jong to Manchester United for a total fee of $85 million, but the Dutch midfielder refused to leave.
Lewandowski publicly wants to leave and has put pressure on Bayern's leadership since the end of May. He also refused to negotiate with Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, and only wanted to join Barcelona.
Bayern then confirmed that Lewandowski respected the requirements of the last year of his contract. The German club also rejected Barca's first two offers, $37 million, a $5 million surcharge and $30 million. The 33-year-old striker even returned to Munich to join the army last week.
But in the end, Bayern accepted to part ways with Lewandowski and had more budget to sign Delicht. Sporting director Hassan Salihamidzic has been in Turin for talks with Juventus since the start of the week. The Dutch midfielder has two years left on his contract and is said to have announced his desire to move to Munich. Juventus valued De Licht at about $80 million.
In the summer of 2014, Lewandowski joined Bayern freely after his contract with Dortmund expired. In eight years, the Polish striker has scored 344 goals in 375 games, winning eight Bundesliga, three Nations Cups, five German Super Cups, one Champions League, one European Super Cup and one FIFA Club World Cup. Individually, he has won seven Bundesliga top scorer, one Champions League top scorer, two European Golden Boots and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.
