Robert Lewandowski has achieved just about everything possible over the course of his legendary football career. A two-time European Golden Shoe winner who was unjustly denied the Ballon d'Or in 2020 after leading Bayern Munich to the Champions League title in that year, Lewandowski ranks second among all Bundesliga goalscorers in league history with 312. The Pole scored 238 of those for Bayern including a mind-boggling 41 in the 2020-21 season.
Lewandowski has now begun what might be the final stages of his career by agreeing to sign for Barcelona for a transfer fee of €50 million. Lewandowski signed a three-year contract with an option for a further one-year extension. While the transfer fee may initially seem unusually low, the reality is that at 33, it remains uncertain just how many prime years Lewandowski has remaining. That being said, if Lewandowski can remain at an elite level for two to three more years, Barça are set to be a leading contender for Champions League titles during the entirety of that timespan.
Lewandowski's arrival at Camp Nou further strengthens an already stacked attack. Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati, a rejuvenated Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and Lewandowski's fellow new arrival Raphinha already make Barça's frontline one of the most potent in world football. The addition of Lewandowski might just give Barça the undisputed best attacking unit on the planet.
Last season, Barça were not even close to winning the league. Although they finished second behind arch-rivals Real Madrid, Barça were second by the enormous margin of 13 points. One key reason for this was their relative lack of a goalscoring threat. In the 2021-22 season, Barça's leading goalscorer in La Liga was Memphis Depay (who is likely to leave the club himself during this off-season) with 12. To put this figure into perspective, Aubameyang came to Catalonia during the mid-season transfer window and had 11 in the league, almost matching Depay's full-season tally. In total, Barça scored just 68 league goals to Real's 80.
This will almost certainly change with Lewandowski in the starting line-up. Of particular note will be Fati's performance if, as expected, he once again becomes a regular starter following his recovery from a torn ACL. It is widely believed that Fati's playstyle is an excellent complement to that of Lewandowski. Should this turn out to be the case, expect another massive goal tally from the Pole - perhaps a third consecutive Golden Shoe could await.
At this point, the only "criticism" that could conceivably be levelled at Lewandowski is the (baseless) claim that "he would never be able to do it in a league other than the Bundesliga". However, those who would claim this are ignoring the fact that this isn't just any player. This is one of the greatest centre-forwards of all time. When Lewandowski is in top form, he is one of the most unstoppable offensive forces to ever step onto a football pitch and will torch any defensive scheme thrown at him.
An underrated yet almost as important element of Lewandowski's arrival at Barça will be his intangible impact on the club's younger players - some of whom may once have idolized him. It's certainly a possibility that promising youngsters such as Fati, Torres, and Pedri might raise their game simply by being in the presence of a legend like Lewandowski every day. It could be because they would not want to let him down or perhaps avoid looking bad in front of him, but either way, these effects cannot be understated and could play key roles in driving Barça towards a first Champions League title since 2015.
Of course, there is one key way in which this transfer could end up backfiring. As was mentioned earlier, Lewandowski is now 33. He is at an age when most strikers begin to decline - some much more dramatically than others. If Lewandowski ends up being one of them, Barça might just end up worse off compared to where they were before.
That being said, Lewandowski is in no way just "any ordinary striker". When a player like Lewandowski is there for the taking, any club with the means to do so should make the move. Barça have done just that and are thus likely to reap the rewards.
It looks as though fun times at Camp Nou lie ahead.
It looks as though fun times at Camp Nou lie ahead.
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