Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn has debunked all reports of star striker Robert Lewandowski moving to Barcelona in the summer.
The 33-year-old Polish striker will be out of a contract at the Allianz Arena in 2023, but reports claim that he is looking to exit the German champions earlier than that.
A move to Spain with Barcelona immediately followed the news of Lewandowski looking for another club and several figures have been thrown around as the transfer fees which Barcelona have offered for his services and which Bayern Munich will be demanding to part with their star striker.
However, Kahn has suggested that it would be crazy to think otherwise that Lewandowski – who has surpassed 30 league goals for the third straight Bundesliga campaign and has 48 in all competitions for the club – will be leaving the club this summer.
“We definitely have Robert with us for another season,” Kahn told Amazon Prime. “We know what we have in him and we’re relaxed about it. Apparently, there’s a competition out there: ‘Who will tell the biggest nonsense story about Robert Lewandowski?’
“Talks will continue. We’re not crazy and are [not] discussing the transfer of a player who scores between 30 and 40 goals with us every season.”
The reports, however, have spurred the German giants to take the lead in the negotiations for a new contract for Lewandowski with the player and his agents.
Latest reports claim that they plan to initiate these talks in the coming weeks. It is also understood that they will have to give permission to any clubs who want to open contract talks with Lewandowski, which could be very unlikely as they are not ready to lose him.
Bayern crash out of Champions League
Meanwhile, Lewandowski’s goal was not enough to help Bayern Munich progress past LaLiga club Villarreal to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.
Nigerian attacker Samuel Chukwueze scored a late winner in the tie which was the equaliser to Lewandowski’s 52nd minute strike to restore parity in the tie as Villarreal stunned Bayern to reach the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in 16 years.
Villarreal manager, Unai Emery, whose European experience is mostly in the UEFA Europa League which he has won for a record four times with Sevilla in 2015, 2015 and 2016 and Villarreal in 2021, coached a masterclass in defence and attack which was able to withstand the onslaught of Bayern over two legs.
A 1-0 win in the first leg at the Yellow Submarine’s home stadium, Estadio De La Ceramica was followed by a controlled 1-1 win in Bayern’s Allianz Arena to knock the six-time UCL winners out of the tournament.
Lewandowski bows out of the tournament with 13 goals to his name and barring a miraculous performance from second-place Karim Benzema of Real Madrid, who has 12 goals, will win the UCL golden boot for this season.
