Reports emerged on Friday night that Barcelona and Bayern Munich had finally reached an agreement for Robert Lewandowski’s transfer. Less than 24 hours later, Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn has confirmed a deal is in place.
Speaking to BILD, Sport reported Kahn’s comments, in which he explained only the formalities were left.
“We have a verbal agreement with Barca and now it’s just a matter of signing the contracts. At the end of the day Barcelona have offered offered a quantity that makes the sale of Lewandowski absolutely sensible for us.”
Kahn went onto explain the Bayern Munich perspective on the deal, which was aided by the addition of Sadio Mane from Liverpool.
“In addition, we recently had a great success in the transfer market and we have signed a world-class player in attack, Sadio Mane.”
“Tying yourself to something due to an excess of stubbornness or because of your own ego is a sign of weakness for me. It’s about always finding the best for the club, the team and the fans.”
“My job consists of doing the best for Bayern and we have always acted from a position of strength. In the end we decided the best thing was to give Robert permission to leave.”
This marks a complete U-turn in the narrative that Kahn had previously been conveying. Several times figureheads at Bayern, including Kahn, came out and assured the press that Lewandowski would not leave before the expiry of his contract in 2023.
Reports earlier in the day have suggested that it may have been Bayern manager Julian Nagelsmann who helped push the deal through after a conversation with the hierarchy.
Whether that was merely a negotiating position, only Bayern will ever know. However the Bavarians are noted for their strong will when it comes to matters of discipline and it will not have gone down well that Lewandowski was able to get his way after publicly voicing his desires.
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