Sport Bild Report: Lewandowski breaks off all extension talks
Though it certainly counts as a piece of bright yellow journalism to say the least, Germany's main sporting tabloid claims that Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski does not wish to even discuss possibly renewing his 2023 expiring contract for the time being.
| Robert Lewandowski. | Photo: Sven Mandel / CC-BY-SA-4.0 |
According to the report, the Polish superstar has ruled out contract renewal talks for now and told Bayern that he wishes to leave at the very latest at the end of next season. The Sport Bild piece asserts that Lewandowski took umbrage at the fact that the German giants delayed speaking with him about his contractual situation and was further offended that the FCB courted Erling Haaland until the very end.
The second alleged grievance counts as highly unlikely. It's widely understood that Bayern gave up on pursuing Haaland quite long ago, with both sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic and club CEO Oliver Kahn on record as saying the €65-70 million sum that ultimately sent Haaland to Man City were "out of Bayern's dimension".
Reports from other sources in recent weeks that suggest Lewandowski felt remaining at Bayern hurt his chances at winning his first Ballon d'or may nevertheless have some plausibility to them. Almost every Barça transfer rumor published over the last few months has listed Lewandowski's snubbing as a reason the 33-year-old wants to make a switch to a different league.
Given the specificity of the grievances listed in the Sport Bild report, one expects the FCB public relations department to issue some sort of specific refutation in the coming days. Lewandowski himself was non-committal in his latest public statements on the matter.
