Why Dortmund should sell Lewandowski now
Following the sale of Mario Gotze to Bayern Munich, Dortmund fans might have been bracing themselves for a double blow. Having lost the Champions League final to their fiercest rivals Bayern Munich, star striker Robert Lewandowski announced his intention to leave the club despite being one of the key players responsible for their spectacular recent run.
As rumours and analysis about how he’d fit in at various English and Spanish clubs made the rounds, he must have just watched in amusement as none of those moves were ever going to materialise. He had his mind set on a move to the very club that had hurt Borussia Dortmund the most – Bayern Munich. This could potentially turn out to be true, with the latter’s president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge expressing his complete confidence in the move happening. Here are some recent remarks by the President -
“I am absolutely optimistic that the player will be transferred to Bayern Munich next year” - from Bayern’s pre-season training camp in Riva Del Garda in northern Italy
“We no longer want to talk about it this season but I expect Dortmund know what will happen next summer” – to SportBild
(9 days ago)
Right now, Dortmund are taking a very tough stand to prevent themselves from being weakened further and strengthening their rivals simultaneously, while the player (or his agent?) seems willing to create an equally intense drama to force the move.
But the issue here is the timing. Lewandowski wants to move now, while Bayern are extremely confident in waiting for a year so that they can get him for free. One wonders whether Dortmund’s stance of not cashing in on their most valuable asset now and losing him for free to the enemy next year is the right call.
While the arguments in this article are very valid, I will have to disagree with them. Dortmund must cash in on Lewandowski now, rather than later. Here are a few reasons why Dortmund should reconsider their current stand.
The aforementioned article mentioned that a good season and a trophy would compensate the monetary loss. But the money that Dortmund would get by selling now would be much more beneficial than an awkward parting next year. Such is the demand for Lewandowski right now that Dortmund can doggedly extract up to 30 million from any interested party. This is a huge sum for a player with only a year left on his contract.
Dortmund can use the money to get an equally good replacement, or more replacements whom they can develop. Bringing in new faces will definitely be an upgrade from a player with questionable commitment. In fact, they have already signed a striker, the much coveted Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Considering the present situation, he may only end up being a backup rather than a replacement for Lewandowski.
Selling him to Bayern now would actually work in Dortmund’s favour. Pep Guardiola would want to impose his own philosophy on the team. This would mean bench time for strikers like Lewandowski and Mandzukic. Guardiola preferred a false 9 with Messi at Barca, and will be looking to shape the side according to that tactic, with Gotze playing the no.9 role in all likelihood.
David Villa never really thrived in his favourite position due to this, as he was sometimes forced into the position of a wide forward rather than a center forward; eventually he got fed up and left.
Bayern already have Mario Mandzukic as their main striker. Adding an equally good striker, if not better, to the squad may end up doing more harm than good. Being an out-and-out striker would be the last position a player would desire when the manager is employing a false 9.
Mandzukic will be forced to the bench and will get lesser game time than he is used to, and Lewandowski will share the bench with him. This makes one wonder why Bayern want two world-class strikers in their squad, and then change to a tactic which will not use a proper striker.
The signing of Thiago Alcantara again shows Bayern’s intent to add to an already overloaded midfield, which points to only one possible explanation – the manager does not seem to need true strikers.
Dortmund have a recent history of selling their best player every summer and still managing to challenge for trophies. They lost Nuri Sahin to Real Madrid, Shinji Kagawa to Manchester United, and Mario Gotze to Bayern Munich this summer. Yet, they have managed to find replacements all the time (Henrikh Mkhitaryan for Gotze this season). So why should Lewandowski be any different?