Robert Lewandowski has expressed his desire to leave Bayern Munich after eight seasons at the club.
The 10-time Bundesliga champion, whose contract expires in June 2023, is seeking a new challenge in his career. He spent two years at Lech Poznan in the Polish league before joining Borussia Dortmund, and eventually Bayern.
Here are four teams who should look be looking to acquire Lewandowski this summer.
Barcelona
The Spanish side have been heavily linked with Lewandowski, with the Polish international reportedly favouring a move to Barcelona.
Xavi’s side currently have four strikers on their roster after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang joined Memphis Depay, Luuk de Jong, and Ferran Torres in January.
Aubameyang has scored 11 league goals in 15 appearances since joining, including a brace in his first-ever El Classico. Memphis is Barcelona’s top scorer in the league so far with 12 goals while de Jong is very much a ‘kitchen sink’ option for Xavi.
Torres has shown promising signs since joining from Manchester City, but the 22-year-old has found himself guilty of missing big chances in various games.
It is likely that Barcelona would need to offload at least one of these forwards to make room for Lewandowski in terms of squad size and game time.
AC Milan
The Rossoneri are currently battling for their first Serie A title since 2011 as they sit two points clear at the top of the table.
Stefano Pioli has used Olivier Giroud (9) most often this season in the striker position along with Zlatan Ibrahimovic (8) off the bench, but it is Rafael Leao (10) who has scored the most goals in the league for them this season.
Milan’s defence have conceded the lowest number of goals along with Inter and Napoli but both their rivals have scored more, with Inter outscoring them by ten.
The seven-time Champions League winners have also struggled to score as frequently at home. They’ve scored 26 goals at home compared to 38 away in the same number of games (18). Although Lewandowski has scored more away from this season (18 in 16), he has still scored an impressive 16 in 17 at home.
Chelsea
The Blues have made many marquee signings over the past two seasons in the striker position with Romelu Lukaku, Timo Werner, and Kai Havertz all coming in, but Thomas Tuchel’s side still lacks a clinical nature in the final third.
Mason Mount (11) has outscored all the Chelsea strikers in the league this season with Lukaku, Havertz, and Werner scoring eight, seven and four respectively.
Lukaku has been under fire from pundits and fans this season after an interview earlier in the season aired on Sky Italia. Many questioned the Belgian’s commitment to the club despite backing from his manager.
Lewandowski has only played twice against Chelsea in his career as he faced the London side in the last 16 of the 2019/20 Champions League. In those two games, he scored three goals and got five assists on his way to lifting the trophy in Lisbon.
Arsenal
If Lewandowski wants to have a challenge, Arsenal is the place for him. The Gunners would need to secure Champions League qualification to have any chance of signing the former Best FIFA Men’s Player, but if they can manage to finish in the top four a move would not be out of the question.
Mikel Arteta has progressed his side over the past 12 months as they go from battling for Europa Conference League last season to pushing for Champions League this season. New signings such as Ben White and Aaron Ramsdale along with Thomas Partey and Martin Odegaard have given Arsenal a new identity under the Spaniard.
Arsenal are the only team in the top seven to underperform their expected goals tally. Aubameyang struggled to fire in the first part of the season and Alexandre Lacazette was finding more assists than shots on goal.
Eddie Nketiah has been scoring in recent games, along with a good record in the Carabao Cup, but has struggled to find consistent form over the course of the season.
Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe have been Arsenal’s top scorers this season, but they have also been good creatively. With the addition of Odegaard, Lewandowski can feed off the youngsters’ build-up play while bringing his world-class talent.
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