According to Poland manager Franciszek Smuda, the Poland striker Robert Lewandowski (who currently plays for Borrusia Dortmund) is “going to Manchester United”. Manchester United recently signed Lewandowski’s Dortmund (former) teammate Shinji Kagawa and were strongly rumoured to be interested in Lewandowski as well although Dortmund have so far refused to acknowledge that a transfer might happen.
Smuda, while speaking about team discipline and the values he bases his squad on, said:
“In my opinion, in a moment they will be gone from Borussia Dortmund. “Lewy is going to Manchester United, Jakub also somewhere in England, Lukasz Piszczek to Real Madrid. They have a goal and they want to grow. I base the squad on them.”
While Lewandowski plays as a striker and would fit United’s requirement of a young but proven goal-scoring forward, Jakub Blaszczykowski could easily fit in any of the top English clubs and Piszczek would again be a good fit at right-back at Madrid if Ramos was to move to central defence.
Earlier this summer Dortmund were adamant that that they would not sell any of their star players, although that policy is also dependent on the length of contract left, the wishes of each player and the transfer fee Dortmund can get. In the case of Kagawa, a player bought for under £1m and sold for over £12m and also in his last year of contract, a sale was great business. And as we’ve seen with Gotze, Dortmund aren’t afraid to play hardball with transfer fees not coming below £40m for the talented youngster.
So while the above mentioned players may harbour desires for a move, it will come down to their contract situation and also how much money Dortmund can get from the chasing club. As we’ve seen with Hazard, United don’t want to over-spend on players or wages (and given how stingy they’ve been historically with wages, Rooney’s wages are an anomaly that won’t be repeated unless Cristiano Ronaldo comes back – and he won’t), a £20m fee on Lewandowski could put them off.
As things stand, United are also reported to be close to finalising a deal with Tottenham for Luka Modric, reportedly for more than £20m – and that would reduce their transfer funds for a top-level striker.
Getting back to Smuda and Poland, the manager was actually talking about team discipline and the fact that he’d rather have his players indulge in sex than drinking:
“It’s better to have bunga bunga than to abuse alcohol,” Smuda was quoted as saying by Polish daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. “Alcohol just blows my fuse.”
“If I gave players the impression that I’m a pushover, jelly or pudding, we would be done for. You can’t show that,” Smuda said.
A smart man.
All of Lewandowski’s 2011/12 goals:
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