Barcelona and Bayern Munich have struck a deal for the transfer of Robert Lewandowski in one of the biggest moves of the window so far.
Lewandowski scored 50 goals across all competitions last season but announced at the end of the campaign that he wished to leave Bayern and would not be signing a new contract with the Bundesliga champions.
With Bayern facing the prospect of keeping an unhappy player and then losing the Poland captain on a free transfer next year, they have elected to cash in and grant Lewandowski s wish to join Barca.
Lewandowski returned to Munich for pre-season training on July 12 but all parties were said to want an agreement to have been made prior to Bayern s tour of the United States.
The Catalan club have been hampered by financial difficulties but managed to put together a bid reportedly worth €50million which has been enough to convince Bayern to part company with the 33-year-old.
Barcelona announced on Saturday an agreement in principle had been reached for Lewandowski, with completion of the deal contingent on him passing a medical on contracts being signed.
Lewandowski joined Bayern from Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dortmund on a free transfer in 2014 and went on to become one of the world s most prolific goalscorers.
In the 2020-21 campaign, Lewandowski broke Gerd Muller s long-standing Bundesliga record by scoring 41 goals in a single season, while his 43 league goals in 2021 serve as the record for a calendar year in Germany s top tier.
Lewandowski s 312 Bundesliga goals are the second-most scored by any player in the history of the competition, behind Muller (365), while he leaves Bayern having accumulated 344 goals and 57 assists across 375 appearances in all competitions.
The forward will become Barca s fourth signing of the transfer window, following on from Raphinha, Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen, while the Blaugrana have also tied Ousmane Dembele down to a new contract.
Bayern, meanwhile, brought in Sadio Mane from Liverpool earlier in the window, in essence replacing Lewandowski already, while they are expected to sign defender Matthijs de Ligt from Juventus.
