Robert Lewandowski has accepted that he will have to stay at Bayern Munich for at least another year after talks with coach Niko Kovac. The Poland international has been looking for a move away from the Bundesliga since the end of last season, as his agent revealed he needed “a change and a new challenge in his career” amid reports he is wanted by Real Madrid and Chelsea.
Hans-Joachim Watzke, meanwhile, said his side would be willing to pay €100m (£88.8m/$116m) to bring him back to Borussia Dortmund. However, Bayern have insisted they have no desire to sell the star striker, as CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge insisted he would not be sold for as much as €150 million (£134m/$175m).
And Kovac has clarified that he has had talks with the 29-year-old forward and made clear that he would be staying put heading into the new campaign.
“It’s true that Robert and I had a conversation last week,” Kovac said. “Robert knows how I think about him and what I think of him.The whole club knows the qualities he has. He is certainly among the top three strikers in his position worldwide. We certainly will not give him up. That’s the statement I gave him. Robert accepted that. I really enjoyed that.”
Lewandowski has been at Bayern since joining from Dortmund in a free transfer in 2014 and has scored 151 goals in 195 games for the Bavarian outfit.The six-time Bundesliga winner is currently contracted to the club until the summer of 2021. Bayern have already seen Arturo Vidal leave to join Barcelona this transfer period and Rummenigge admitted that more players could follow him on the way out.
They have also been linked to a move for Ante Rebic from Eintracht Frankfurt, but Kovac dismissed the chances of anything happening this window.
In November 2013, Lewandowski confirmed he would sign a pre-contractual agreement for Borussia Dortmund’s rivals Bayern Munich which officially happened on 3 January 2014; signing a five-year contract, joining the team at the start of the 2014–15 season.Lewandowski was officially presented as a Bayern Munich player on 9 July 2014.
Pre-season started on 9 July 2014at which time he was presented. He made his pre–season debut on 21 July 2014, scoring a goal in the process. On 6 August, he opened the scoring as Bayern contested the 2014 MLS All-Star Game in Portland, Oregon, eventually losing 1–2.
He made his competitive debut for his new club in a 2–0 loss to Borussia Dortmund in the 2014 German Super Cup on 13 August 2014, and scored his first goal in a 1–1 draw against Schalke 04 in his second league match on 30 August. On 1 November, in his first league match against Dortmund, Lewandowski scored in a 2–1 win which put Bayern four points clear at the top of the table while leaving his former club in a relegation play-off place. In his third match of the season against Dortmund on 4 April 2015, Lewandowski scored in the 36th minute in a 1–0 win. He had scored after Roman Weidenfeller “parried” Thomas Müller’s shot.
Lewandowski was voted Poland’s Footballer of the Year for the seventh time in a row.
On 22 February, Lewandowski fired his long-time agent, Cezary Kucharski. Lewandowski hired renowned dealmaker Pini Zahavi as his new agent. The hiring of Zahavi is rumored to be the start of Lewandowski trying to seal a summer move to Real Madrid. Lewandowski played his 250th Bundesliga game against Hertha BSC.
Lewandowski finished the season as the Bundesliga’s top goalscorer with 29 goals. This was the third time Lewandowski won the Bundesliga’s top goalscorer award. Lewandowski finished the season with 41 goals in 48 matches in all competitions.