Munich (dpa) – Bayern Munich’s President Herbert Hainer also assumes that goalscorer Robert Lewandowski will still play for the German record champions in the coming season.
In an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, Hainer referred to the 33-year-old Pole’s contract, which runs for another year. “I’ve said it again and again in the last few days: He has a contract until 2023 – and Robert will fulfill it,” emphasized Hainer.
CEO Oliver Kahn had previously spoken a word of power. “He will fulfill this contract – that’s it!” Kahn said on Sunday at the championship celebration in Munich. Lewandowski’s advisor Pini Zahavi was recently made an offer to extend the contract beyond 2023, which he “rejected”, explained Kahn. Lewandowski announced on Saturday after the last game in Wolfsburg that he no longer wanted to extend in Munich.
President Hainer is optimistic about Neuer and Gnabry
Hainer added that he could not say anything about Lewandowski’s motives. The FC Bayern president also underscored: “Anyone who saw Robert at the championship celebrations on Saturday on Nockherberg and the day after on the town hall balcony could not feel any irritation.”
Hainer was optimistic that there would be contract extensions for national goalkeepers Manuel Neuer and Serge Gnabry. There are talks with Gnabry, but the ideas are still a little apart. Like Thomas Müller before him, Neuer should only extend the contract by one year, Kahn had said.
When asked if he was satisfied with the work of sports director Hasan Salihamidzic, Hainer replied: “Of course”. The successes of the past few years should be credited to the sports board as well as to the players or coaches. “Overall, I think Hasan is doing a very good job,” said Hainer. “We can see that he not only brings very good players to the club, but also how committed he is to youth work on the Bayern campus.” You can already see the first fruits.