Barcelona’s biggest deal of the summer, Robert Lewandowski, has explained why he decided to sign Blaugrana after signing with Real Madrid last minute.
Robert Lewandowski was keen to play for Barca’s biggest rivals Real Madrid before joining Spanish giants Barcelona this season. After talks that seemingly led to a move to Madrid several times in his career, the move never materialized.
The footballer has attracted the attention of Real Madrid during his time at both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, and photos of a contract reportedly offered in 2013 have also leaked onto the internet.
Lewandowski explains in an interview, “When I saw how determined Barcelona was to get me, I knew that this transfer was much more realistic than any of my previous links with Real Madrid”.
To play with Real Madrid was Lewandowski’s dream
Lewandowski has previously admitted to SPORT1 that “there was talk with Real Madrid, but nothing came of it”.
A source close to the Polish striker, who was playing for Bayern at the time, confirmed to MARCA in 2018 that “Lewandowski’s dream is to play for Real Madrid…”.
The forward has come as far as joining Real Madrid several times in his career.
Living in Spain and playing La Liga the Polish Striker’s forever dream
The prolific goalscorer also spoke about his family and personal life in Barcelona.
“It’s not as bad as I expected, people respect my privacy,” admitted Lewandowski. Of course, Barcelona is a tourist destination, during the season there are a lot of visitors, so this could change. We are an active family, we like to walk.”
“Living in Spain and playing in LaLiga [Santander] was always a dream, not only in sporting terms, but also in private terms.”
Barcelona finished the 2021-22 La Liga season in second place behind Real Madrid. However, the club did not progress beyond the group stages of the UEFA Champions League.
The addition of Lewandowski and Raphinha should boost Barcelona into the 2022-23 season and help the club achieve their best result since 2018-19.
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