Julian Nagelsmann sat on his mother’s terrace on his day off. The Munich coach also deals with the pressing issues at FC Bayern in his free time.
And so Nagelsmann phoned his CEO Oliver Kahn on Thursday and also discussed squad ideas. “The exchange has been very good so far,” praised the Bayern coach.
Kahn wants Nagelsmann to “have a picture of what the coach is thinking.” In any case, the attitude of the coach, who came from RB Leipzig in the summer, to Robert Lewandowski, who FC Barcelona should also be keen on, is clear. “Of course I would like to keep him,” assured Nagelsmann. Lewandowski is an “extremely important player, very important scorer”.
Lewandowski again the subject of speculation
Lewandowski has again become the subject of speculation. This also has to do with the 33-year-old’s contract, which expires in the summer of 2023. This also applies to the other leading players Manuel Neuer (36) and Thomas Müller (32) for the German record champions. In times of free transfer at the end of the contract, such terms quickly give rise to many rumours.
Before the end of the Champions League quarterfinals against the Spanish Europa League winners FC Villarreal, the Polish television station “TVP” reported that Lewandowski had already informed Munich’s CEO Kahn about his wish to leave and wanted to switch to FC Barcelona.
“Apparently there’s a competition out there who’ll tell the biggest nonsense story about Robert Lewandowski,” said the former world-class goalkeeper on “Amazon Prime Video” shortly before the 1-1 on Tuesday. Kahn referred to the valid contract with the six-time Bundesliga top scorer. And the club is also “not discussing a change from a player who scores between 30 and 40 goals every season,” insisted the board boss. “If there’s something to report, then we’ll do it too.”
“Hearing this for the first time”
Unresolved contractual issues always have potential for gossip. Sometimes more sometimes less. When Lewandowski was asked on Sky TV at the end of February after the 1-0 win at Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga that sports director Hasan Salihamidzic had announced that he absolutely wanted to keep him, the world footballer replied with a smile: “I hear that first Times.” Someone of his age and with his experience, however, deal with such things “quietly”. Everything is closely monitored in the media, including the fact that Lewandowski’s wife Anna reported via Instagram that she was learning Spanish.
Lewandowski knows this contract situation. Before he had prematurely extended by two years at FC Bayern in August 2019 until the end of June 2023, the attacker toyed with a move to Spain several times. At that time, the possible destination was Real Madrid, Lewandowski wanted to fulfill his dream of winning the Champions League. He did that too. 2020 with FC Bayern.
Kahn has given the future of Lewandowski, Neuer and Müller a “high priority”. However, contract negotiations cannot be “regulated in passing,” he remarked at the end of March. After all, the players also have certain ideas.
Munich top earner
Like Neuer and Müller, Lewandowski is one of the top earners in the Munich squad. A further extension beyond 2023 is also a question of costs. Even with so deserving players who marked a golden era and still deliver top performances.
“We have to make sure that our quality in the team and the economic component fit together,” Salihamidzic had pointed out and, with a view to two years of the corona pandemic, admitted: “We are going through a difficult phase, financially.”
Goal machine Lewandowski could of course ask himself what financial and sporting overall package FC Barcelona could offer him – although he has been living beyond his means for years.
“He knows what he has in Bayern. We as FC Bayern also know what we have in him. Now we’ll wait and see it relaxed,” said Kahn about Lewandowski, who has been in the club since moving from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2014 370 competitive games has scored an unbelievable 341 goals for FC Bayern.
Nagelsmann does not have the impression that this exceptional striker wants to leave. “In the talks he already seems that he would like to stay,” said the Munich coach before the guest appearance at Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday and referred to football-specific conversations with Lewandowski. But you can’t “look completely inside your head,” said Nagelsmann. It is also “a bit normal that you always think about your future”. Kahn and Salihamidzic are in exchange with Lewandowski.