Robert Lewandowski – is he coming to Chelsea? Is he going to Bayern? Maybe to Manchester United or is he even staying in Dortmund? Robert Lewandowski will be/already is a hot prospect for this summer, persuaded by many big clubs in Europe. Despite already playing at a big European club, Lewandowski intends to leave Dortmund. But whether he’s staying in Germany or leaving for England (or Spain) is unknown.
Biography
Born in Warsaw (21st of August 1988, age 24), Lewandowski started playing football for Varsovia Warsaw in his hometown. His youth wasn’t spectacular and he signed his first professional contract with Delta Warsaw. Without any success at Delta Warsaw and at his second club, Legia Warsaw, Lewandowski moved to Znicz Pruszkow to the third Polish division. He became the top scorer in the Polish third division and also the top scorer in the second Polish division in the following season after the promotion of Znicz Pruzkow. Then after playing 2 years for Lech Poznan, Lewandowski signed for Dortmund for a fee of €4.5 million. He was mostly used as a substitute in his first season in Germany, but he profited from an injury of Lucas Barrios to establish himself as the first choice striker. Lewandowski won the Polish league once and German league twice.
He made his debut for the Polish national team in 2008 against San Marino and he scored his first goal for Poland in the same game. He also scored the first goal of the Euro 2012 in the opening match against Greece.
Position/style of play
Lewandowski is one of the most complete strikers I’ve ever seen. It would be a loss of his scoring qualities if we move Lewandowski out to other positions, but he would do well just behind the striker or as a winger too. I even believe he can play deeper as a number ten player.
His dangerous right foot is his strongest weapon. Not famous for scoring from outside the box or spectacular goals like Ibrahimovic, but he is a cool striker inside the box with an absolute rocket shot.
Another strength that stands out is how strong Lewandowski works with the ball. He wins a lot of aerial duels; so long balls aren’t a problem for him. He falls back to a defensive position quite often and he is often involved in the build-ups of the team. His falling back also helps to regain the ball from the opponent. But also in thigh space situations, Lewandowski manages to keep the ball with his brilliant technique.
Strengths
Complete striker
Dribbling, ball-control and shooting: Lewandowski is a complete striker with a lot of strengths besides waiting for the ball in the box. His tendency to shoot with right makes it predictable for the defence, but his strength with the ball and technique always creates himself a better chance (see for example his second and third goal against Real Madrid, brilliant footwork).
Everywhere to find in a game
Lewandowski is a very hardworking striker who works a lot for the team and in the defence for a striker. He wins a lot of balls himself and he can also build up a game. It’s always possible to pass the ball to him and he runs a lot to position himself in the dangerous area.
Shooting and scoring
His shot and finishing is absolute incredible. His right foot is a rocket that can fire the ball with so much speed and power into the back of the net.
23 goals in 29 Bundesliga games and 10 goals in 12 Champions League games. Statistics don’t lie and his goal scoring record is unbelievable impressive. Among other great games, Lewandowski’s two biggest were probably his 3 goals against Bayern last year in the DFB cup and 4 goals against Real Madrid in the first leg of this year’s Champions League semi-final.
Weakness
Passing
Despite the fact that I think he would do well as a midfielder, there’s room for improvements for his passing. Especially his long passing and crossing could be better. He’s an intelligent player with good ideas and vision, but the outcome of his passes is quite poor sometimes.
Is he depended on Dortmund’s midfield?
(Not exactly a weakness, but a thing that Lewandowski has still to proof)
Can Lewandowski really prove himself without Götze, Reus and Blaszikowsky? I see Dortmund’s midfield at least on the same level as our midfield. It’s not necessarily the quality of their players in midfield what makes their midfield so great, but the link-up in the whole Dortmund system, which is brilliant. Players like Götze and Reus (maybe Mata and Hazard at us?) open a lot space for Lewandowski and they both are able to make the final pass or cross to Lewandowski.
What Lewandowski’s role at Chelsea would be
Lewandowski will become our first-choice striker without a question if we manage to sign him, maybe even for several years. A striker, who will cost more than 30 million € won’t be left on the bench even if he’s going to flop and we also don’t have a lot of alternatives on this position.
But signing a new striker won’t end our striker dilemma. Is it time to sell Torres? Loan-out Lukaku for another year? Will Ba be our second choice striker?
Chelsea, Bayern or United?
I really have to ask why United and Bayern actually need Lewandowski. United have Chicha, Welbeck, RVP and Rooney and Bayern have Mario Mandzukic, Mario Gomez, Claudio Pizarro and also Müller.
More than €30 million on a player whose position is more than well covered at both teams is totally unnecessary despite the quality of Lewandowski. The negotiations between Bayern and Dortmund about the transfer of Lewandowski could be further than many suggest, although reports also claim that Dortmund won’t sell a second big player to Bayern because they don’t want to weaken themselves by making the rival stronger.
Conclusion
There’re really not a lot of bad things to say about Lewandowski currently. He’s absolute in top form and I really don’t see an ending. At 24 years of age, Lewandowski is yet to reach his peak. We can’t sign a better player for about €30 million. Falcao’s price tag is way too high. I really hope that we can sign Lewandowski, who is such a quality player, for a good price as his contract expires in one year.
Leave me your opinion on Robert Lewandowski and the whole striker discussion in the comments! Jonny (@jonny9fan)
I think he is one of the quality strikers and is much affordable than Falcao. For me i rate him higher than Falcao. He is the type of player we ought to do everything possible in buying this summer.
That’s the way I see it also. Especially the price play a big role as Falcao would cost nearly twice as much as Lewandowski while Lewy is currently even stronger than Falcao.
Perhaps you could work a bit on your writing skills?
I’m working on it, but it would be a massive help if you could tell me where I can work on 😉
He is the type of player who is more admirable and liked by me to join in Chelsea,he’s perfect player..!!
CFC’s problem with strikers this season: Torres, a deep lying foward who fails miserably as a poacher as he times his runs poorly & is generally out of sync with his main playmaker. Ba, a poacher who waits for the ball to get to him, which it rarely does because we play most of our footie in the midfield and wide. So Ba contributes almost nothing. Lewadowski will be a perfect solution, cos he’s a Poacher/ Deep lying foward hybrid. He has the technique to hold the ball while Mazacar run into more dangerous positions, something Ba sucks at. He also has enough skills to fashion out chances out of nothing for himself, something Torres sucks at. In trying to convert Us to Barcelona, we already have three Iniestas and 2 Sergio Busquets, all we need is a Messi and a Xavi, Lewadowski could be our Messi (albeit a taller more dominant but less skillful one). Falcao is just a poacher, methinks he’ll have the same problem Ba is having. Cavani is not consistent enough for me to spent 50 mill on
We need lewandowski at chelsea.