There is no truce in the war between Bayern Munich and Pini Zahavi, Robert Lewandowski’s agent. One day after calling Hasan Salihamidzic, sports director of the Bundesliga champion, a liar after he claimed that Bayern had sent him a specific and detailed offer to the footballer, Zahavi charged again against the Bavarian team. In statements to the German newspaper Bild, the representative gave details of the meeting he had with the club’s leadership and revealed the following details.
meeting: “I went to the meeting with my old colleague Humberto Paiva. Hasan Salihamidzic and Oliver Kahn (Bayern CEO) were present on the Bayern side. The meeting went like this: we met for lunch, it was just over 12 in Munich. The restaurant was practically empty. In the first 45 minutes Robert Lewandowski’s name was not mentioned even once. So I came to beautiful Munich to have a good lunch in a friendly atmosphere with the FC managers Bayern. ‘It’s nice too,’ I thought to myself. And so it went on, they wanted to talk about transfer rumors and the weather. But Robert’s name still didn’t fall. Then at some point it was too much for me and I asked: “Let’s talk Robert, what do you offer us?” Then Kahn and Salihamidzic talked for a long time about the situation with Neuer and Müller, that both would only get one more year. Without really saying it, they implied that it would be no different for Robert.”
Negotiation: “I told Oliver: ‘We can talk about a new contract here and now, but we need one more year than the others.’ A model until 2024 with an automatic option for one more year until 2025 would also have played in Bayern’s favor in terms communication. I dropped it, but my proposal did not provoke anything: no concrete offer, no salary talks.”
Lewandowski: “But Robert, together with his family, had already decided to leave FC Bayern. Without anyone driving him crazy. However, after this meeting, it became clear to me that this time there was no chance. I would like to insist again on that it was never about money. In no meeting did I ask for a single penny more. Not a penny, not a euro, not a mark, not a peso, not a ruble. We never talked about money during that time, neither for Robert nor for me. A few days after our meeting in Munich, Hasan approached Robert after training, and he still doesn’t understand what the point of this exchange was. According to Robert, it was a very strange conversation that had nothing to do with his future. If Bayern really wanted to extend Robert’s contract, they would have used one of these opportunities to talk about a new contract. But they didn’t. Although I have been in the world of football for many years and have experienced many things, the behavior of the Bayern leaders amazes me. And instead of questioning themselves, they blame everything on me.”
Manuel Neuer renews until 2024
Manuel Neuer reached an agreement to renew his contract with Bayern until 2024. The Bavarian team’s starting goalkeeper will continue to defend the goal of the club in which he has become a legend, after arriving from Schalke. It is one more renewal of the attacks by Oliver Khan and Hasan Salihamdzic, who have already managed to tie up Kimmich and Gortezka. It remains to be seen what will happen to the future of Gnabry, Lewandowski and Müller. Only the latter seems to be clear that he will continue at Allianz.
Oliver Kahn, director general del FC Bayern: “Manuel Neuer is the best goalkeeper in the world and has been setting international standards for years. It is a huge achievement to be able to consistently deliver top-class performance over such a long period of time. We are very happy to have extended his contract. Manuel He is one of the figures who define the history of FC Bayern.”
Hasan Salihamidzic, Sporting Director of FC Bayern: “We are very happy that Manuel Neuer has extended his contract with us until 2024. Manuel has been playing for FC Bayern since 2011, he is our captain, he has been the best goalkeeper in the world for so many years and of course he is one of our key players. We want to be successful in all competitions in the coming years. Manuel is our great support on and off the pitch. He will continue to play an important role in helping us achieve our goals.”
Manuel Neuer: “I am very happy that my career at FC Bayern continues. We will once again have a very good team with which we will be able to play for all the titles. As a goalkeeper, captain and main player, I want to be a support and a decisive factor in our great goals.” We want to expand our record and attack at the top in the Pokal and the Champions League.”
Zahavi: “Now he can go to the club of his dreams”
Lewandowski has already expressed his intention to leave the club this summer and, according to the images in his last game, he made it clear that he wants his future to be outside of Bayern. His representative Zahavi pinesspoke yesterday in the German newspaper Bild after the refusal of the Bavarian club to let him out and fulfill the remaining year of his contract: “For Lewandowski, Bayern is history. Robert has the opportunity to go to the club he has always dreamed of. Why is Bayern denying him this opportunity?”
The player’s agent asked if it would be positive if he continued: “Does the Bayern management say that they will keep Lewy until 2023? Yes, they can keep the player for one more year, but that is something I do not advise. Lewandowski is a smart man and he knew what was going on around him and what Bayern were planning. He knew the club wanted to replace him with Haaland.. Lewandowski wants to leave this summer, none of us care about money. The truth is that for a few months he has not felt respected by the board. Bayern have lost Robert not only as a footballer, but also as a person.”
Zahavi added to his statements the respect he has for the Bayern: “He really had no intention of speaking in public. I have great respect for a historic club like Bayern, but I couldn’t help but react to the club’s latest statements.”
Salihamidzic: “Lewandowski has a contract until 2023 and he will fulfill it”
Bayern Munich remains firm in its position not to sell Lewandowski, despite the fact that the Polish striker’s contract expires in 2023 and he would only earn money for him if he gets rid of the star this summer. This was made clear, once again, by the club’s sports director Hasan Salihamidzic during the Doppelpass talk show on the Sport1 television networkin which he did not want to answer when the presenter asked him about the alleged first offer from FC Barcelona for the footballer.
“Things are quite clear. Lewa has a contract until 2023 and he will fulfill it“, were the words of a Salihamidzic who did not hesitate to throw a dart against Zahavi, the player’s representative: “He’s got an agent who keeps driving him crazy. He doesn’t play fair.” According to Zahavi, Bayern never made a formal offer to Lewandowski for him to renew his contract at the Allianz Arena, something that Salihamidzic categorically denied: “We were clear about the duration and quantity,” he said.
As Bild advanced, FC Barcelona would have already moved and would have presented a first offer of around 32 million euros for Lewandowski. “It’s one of the options,” said Barcelona coach Xavi recently when asked by the attacker. “He has said publicly that he wants to leave. He has one year left and it won’t be easy but Lewandowski is one of the options, of course he is.”
Lewandowski’s former agent strikes back
In response to Lewandowski’s dreams expressed by Pini Zahavi, the Pole’s current agent, his former intermediary, Maik Barthel, did not hesitate to intervene in this operation. The owner of Eurosports Management used the Pole’s desire to sign for Real Madrid as a weapon to contrast it with his current intention of reaching Barcelona.“All your life wanting to go to Real Madrid and then maybe end up at FC Barcelona? Ok”wrote the soccer player agent through his Twitter profile.
Bayern statement
Meanwhile, Bayern, between this exchange of statements, has issued a statement to make its position clear. “FC Bayern has repeatedly commented on the current contract between the club and Robert Lewandowski. FC Bayern has also repeatedly commented on the question of whether FC Bayern has made Robert Lewandowski or his representation an offer to extend his contract. Robert Lewandowski is one of the best players in the history of FC Bayern.Herbert Hainer, Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic have also repeatedly expressed publicly how much FC Bayern values Robert and how important he is to the team. Bayern will not comment on the details of confidential meetings or the allegations of confidential conversations”, has been the note published by the club.