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| Lewandowski of FC Barcelona celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the UEFA Champions League 2023/24 round of 16 first leg match between SSC Napoli and FC Barcelona at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on February 21, 2024 in Naples, Italy. |
Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski is a magnet for criticism whenever he makes a bad touch or gets into a brief goal-scoring slump, but there’s a case to be made that he’s been the Blaugrana’s most important player since arriving.
Without him winning the Pichichi in his first season in Barcelona, there is no way the club hoists the LaLiga title over rivals Real Madrid at the end of the campaign, especially since so many of their wins were 1-0 results courtesy of a late Lewandowski goal.
Lewandowski joined Barcelona after pushing his way out of Bayern Munich, where he broke records with relative ease, because he wanted a new challenge and a chance to pursue the Ballon d’Or while elevating a sagging giant.
Now, Lewa has the chance to leave Barça and chase serious dollars, with Mundo Deportivo reporting that an unnamed club from Saudi Arabia is looking to pay the Polish superstar 100 million euros in salary to coax him out of Catalunya. Yet Lewandowski wants to stay with the Blaugrana anyway.
The Saudi Pro League is about to ramp up investment in 2024 after making huge splashes in 2023, bringing in global superstars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, and Sadio Mané, as well as some talents who are still in their primes.
Lewandowski would be a serious coup, given he is an icon of the game and is still highly effective in 2023/24, scoring a team-high 13 goals as the main man while even leading the team with 8 assists amidst chance-creation issues.
In the modern game, a lack of loyalty is commonly lamented, and most players late in their careers would jump at the chance to join the Saudi Pro League for that kind of a tax-free salary, especially if they aren’t established as icons of their current club.
Lewandowski isn’t going to give up on Barcelona that easily, though you wonder if the club would nudge him out the door to make a sale and fund a transfer for a younger goal-scorer. Some Culers would want that, even as they have to admire Lewa’s heart.
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