At the end of May, the sports area of ??FC Barcelona, ??led by the director of football Mateu Alemany, sent Bayern Munich a first offer of 32 million for Robert Lewandowski, a striker who will turn 34 in August and although he still has one year of contract in Germany, he wants yes or yes to start a new stage in the Camp Nou. This has been communicated to the German club in private and also in public since the concentration of the Polish team. “I just want to leave Bayern. Something has died in me, I need new emotions, ”he told the podcast channel of the Polish media outlet Onet Sport. Asked about his next destination, Lewandowski made it clear that he does not consider any other proposal other than “the one from the club that everyone talks about”.
However, Bayern is not for the job of selling what is undoubtedly one of its flagships and so it was made known to Barça by rejecting that proposal of 32 million euros, which they also consider insufficient considering that Lewandowski has scored 50 goals in 46 games this season, adding all competitions. Since he landed in Munich with the freedom letter in 2014, he has scored 344 goals in 374 games, an average of almost one goal per game (0.92).
“This question does not arise. Lewandowski has a contract until 2023 and he will fulfill it, ”said the president of the Bayern board of directors, former soccer player Oliver Kahn, who also revealed that an offer has been made to him to extend his contractual relationship with the club. A proposal that his agent, Pini Zahavi, rejected because the footballer has made it clear that his time at Bayern is over. “I just want to leave Bayern, loyalty and respect are more important than work, the best way is to find a solution for both parties,” the Polish striker reiterated again.
The game will be long since Barça will not only have to increase the offer to satisfy Bayern – they are willing to pay 40 million – but they must also lighten another 160 of a wage mass that right now is 560 to be able to register him. The directive handles several scenarios. The first consists of activating at least one of the economic operations, which contemplates the sale of 10 percent of the audiovisual rights in exchange for being able to increase the salary limit of the workforce by 40 million. The directive has finally rejected the agreement with CVC to cede 10 percent of its television rights for the next 50 years in exchange for an injection of 270 million that would be computed as debt because it is convinced that it can find investors who pay the same for the half a year and without the amount received accounting for debt. In RAC 1 Eduard Romeu, economic vice-president of the club, spoke about Bank of America. Goldman Sachs is also an option.
It happens that the economic situation is so delicate that it will also be necessary to sell, transfer players and reduce wages. The club is subject to the 1/4 or 1/3 rule. This means that for every three or four euros that a footballer releases, one can be invested in a transfer. One rule or another is applied depending on whether the volume represented by the player’s token with respect to the total is greater or less than 5 percent. Alemany has already taken a first step with the sale of Coutinho. His departure freed up some 40 million wage bills – tokens and amortization. That means that, by the rule in this case of 1/3, Barça will have about 13 million to be able to sign. Other movements such as the transfer of Jutglà to Bruges for five million euros or the departure of the players that Xavi does not have are also necessary to reduce the wage bill, although some voices from the club assure that the sale of some heavyweight will also be necessary like Frenkie de Jong.
