Bayern's Lewandowski rejected €40M Chinese bid, agent says
Bayern Munich goal-machine Robert Lewandowski has turned down a €40 million-per-year offer from an unnamed Chinese club, according to the Polish international's agent.
Lewandowski, who joined the Bavarian colossal in 2014 from rival Borussia Dortmund, extended his stay at the Allianz Arena through 2021 with a new contract in December.
Even with his future committed to Bayern, that hasn't hindered Chinese advances.
"I was contacted by an agent who brings stars to China," Lewandowski's agent, Cezary Kucharski, told Polish outlet SportoweFakty, courtesy of ESPN FC. "The club name wasn't mentioned."
If football's biggest stories in 2016 were unprecedented title triumphs, crippling tragedies, and the widespread leaking of confidential details, 2017 appears to be the year of Chinese investment in football, both domestically and in the Far East.
Just before the New Year, Brazilian Oscar moved to Shanghai SIPG for an astronomical £60-million (€70.6 million) fee and Carlos Tevez swapped Argentine giant Boca Juniors for Shanghai Shenhua, where the Argentine is reportedly set to become the world's highest-paid player on a £615,000-per-week (€765,000) deal.
Belgian international midfielder Axel Witsel was next, ditching a potential switch to five-time defending Scudetto champ Juventus for the opulence of Tianjin Quanjian.
The links between Europe's best and moves to the Chinese Super League continue, and with each lucrative transfer comes a metric for comparison among players and their representatives.
Kucharski has noted as much.
"If Lewy had decided to move to China, his salary would have been significantly higher than €40M, which means more than Carlos Tevez earns," Kucharski added.
If the 32-year-old Tevez is worth a world-record wage, then surely the reigning Bundesliga leading scorer would merit more. Clearly, that's Kucharski's thinking. "It's obvious: Lewy is not only younger but also a better player than Tevez."
And like any good agent, Kucharski is both dismissive of a potential Bayern exit for his client while still leaving the door ajar just enough to encourage future bids.
"Robert is not for sale right now," Kucharski said. "But I never say never. Life offers several solutions."