Barcelona’s final offer for Lewandowski: 40 million

Barcelona have had their sights set on Robert Lewandowski ever since the Polish striker announced that he will not be renewing with Bayern Munich and wants to leave. The Catalans have made it clear that the maximum they are prepared to pay for the 33-year-old is 40 million euros - at least, that is what the president Joan Laporta let slip on Friday during an informal meeting with journalists at Camp Nou. The president has been using Pini Zahavi as an intermediary in his dealings with the Bundesliga champions.

According to German media, Laporta promised Lewandowski that he would not leave him stranded if he took the step of publicly announcing his intention to leave Bayern. But much of the player’s future will depend on Bayern, and whether they are prepared to sell him now or not. In Germany, there is speculation about whether the striker will show up when the squad returns for the start of the pre-season on 12 July. Meanwhile in Barcelona, a limit on how they are prepared for the Pole has been set.

All that remains now is to wait and see how Bayern respond to Laporta’s chess move. With Lewandowski now in the final year of his contract, Bayern must decide whether to release the player, who is about to turn 34, or keep him then try to give him the motivation he clearly feels he is lacking. It’s not an ideal situation for the player, who is currently in Mallorca, on holiday and awaiting news. If Barça doesn’t raise their offer, the operation could be blocked

In his meeting with the media, Laporta also assured that Barça will have 200 million euros to reinforce the squad this summer and added that Bernardo Silva, Raphinha and Lewandowski are the other big targets. Nor did he rule out the renewal of Dembélé, although he assured that, if he wants to continue, he would have to take a 40% pay cut, putting him on a similar salary to that of Ansu Fati.