Robert Lewandowski is said to have rejected a summer transfer deal from Chelsea in favor of a move to Barcelona.
The 33-year-old is poised to leave Germany’s Bayern Munich this summer after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract with the Bavarians with only a year left on his current deal. Since joining Bayern from Borussia Dortmund in 2014, Lewandowski has scored 344 goals in 373 appearances for the club, earning eight straight Bundesliga titles as well as the Champions League in 2020.
Despite reports that the striker was considering a move to Barcelona, the Polish international announced his wish to quit Bayern earlier this year, putting Chelsea and Paris Saint-German on high alert. Chelsea are presently discussing a loan agreement for Romelu Lukaku to return to Inter this summer, with Thomas Tuchel apparently seeing Lewandowski as the ideal alternative for the Belgian.
Chelsea has offered an excellent defender as part of the Romelu Lukaku deal, with an Inter Milan medical set to take place soon.
Despite ending the season as the Blues’ leading scorer with 15 goals, Lukaku had a rough first season back in the Premier League. Chelsea fans were not pleased with his mid-season interview with Sky Sports Italia, in which he expressed his desire to return to Inter, and he now looks poised to leave the club on loan, a dramatic fall from grace following his club-record £97.5 million arrival last summer.
But, if Lukaku leaves, it doesn’t appear that Lewandowski will take his place in Chelsea’s attack. According to SPORT, the Bayern Munich attacker has turned down offers from both the Blues and PSG, preferring to join Barcelona.
The Catalan giants will have to spend roughly £34 million to sign the striker, despite their financial difficulties, which have prevented the club from registering new signings Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen until the issues are resolved.
However, things may move forward in the near future, as Barcelona members voted in favor of selling merchandising and television rights in the last 24 hours. This allows club president Joan Laporta and his board of directors to sell 49.9% of the club’s Barca Licensing and Merchandising business, as well as 25% of the club’s La Liga broadcast rights profits, in the future years.
According to some reports, this might bring in up to £600 million for the club, which would go a great way toward reducing the club’s debts and boosting the playing roster for manager Xavi this summer.