Barcelona have made an offer to Bayern Munich for striker Robert Lewandowski, the Spanish club’s president confirmed on Thursday.
“We have made an offer for the player and we expect a response, and a positive one,” said Barça president Joan Laporta at a press conference. “We thank the player who has shown interest in us”
Lewandowski, 33, announced late that his time with the German champions was over and that the best solution was to transfer to a new club.
The Polish striker still has one season left on his contract with the Bundesliga giant.
Negotiations for a contract extension between Bayern and Lewandowski broke down last season. Both parties argued various reasons. While the club claimed that the player rejected his offer, Lewandowski’s agent maintained that Bayern never put anything on the table.
A year after the departure of Lionel Messi, Barcelona is looking to strengthen its attack.
The Catalan team closed the course without titles, as a distant escort of the champion Real Madrid in the Spanish League. They didn’t even survive the Champions League group stage.
The azulgranas are up to their necks in debt. They have just sold 10% of their television rights in Spain for the next 25 years in exchange for just over 200 million euros (203 million dollars). Some of the money they bring in will be used to sign new players.
During this week they introduced the midfielder Franck Kessie and the central defender Andreas Christensen. Both arrived after ending contracts with Milan and Chelsea, respectively.
Lewandowski would be an important addition up front.
He has accumulated 312 goals in 384 Bundesliga games for Bayern and Borussia Dortmund. He scored 35 goals in 34 games last season and became the Bundesliga’s top scorer for the fifth season in a row and the seventh of his career.
Laporta said Barcelona “has credibility again” amid its financial woes.
“All operations have a degree of difficulty added by the situation and inherited economic debt. We are in a process of repaying the debt and investing to make our teams more competitive”, he indicated.
“Competitors take advantage of this situation of maximum economic difficulty, but this is less and less true. This will end when we launch the first message to the market with a signing”, he added.
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