Barcelona allegedly made an extraordinary request to Robert Lewandowski during the closing stages of his debut season, according to claims published in a new authorised biography of the Polish striker.
Lewandowski, now 37, joined the Catalan club in 2022 after a transfer deal understood to be worth around £42.5million from Bayern Munich, where he spent eight prolific years and became one of the game’s most reliable goalscorers.
Despite Barcelona’s well-documented financial upheaval at the time, the move appeared to pay off immediately: he fired 23 goals in 34 La Liga matches, helping Xavi’s side secure the league title.
However, Lewandowski: The Real One, a recently released biography written by journalist Sebastian Staszewski, makes a remarkable assertion about how the campaign concluded.
The book claims that the forward was invited to a meeting with senior club figures, including president Joan Laporta, and was allegedly asked to refrain from scoring any further goals in the final two league matches of the 2022–23 season.
According to the publication, the request was linked to a bonus clause reportedly included in the transfer agreement with Bayern Munich.
The biography states Barcelona would have been obliged to pay the German club an additional sum believed to be approximately £2.2m if Lewandowski reached 25 goals for the season.
Robert Lewandowski is Barcelona's talisman despite approaching the twilight years of his career
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By that point, the La Liga title had already been secured, and the striker had a comfortable lead in the race for the Golden Boot.
The book recounts the footballer’s reaction in quoted form: “[Barcelona asked Lewandowski]: ‘Robert, we want you to stop scoring goals in the last games’.
"The player looked at him in amazement. Although the championship title was already decided, as was the award for the best scorer, in more than a decade playing at the highest level, no one had asked him to stop scoring a goal in his entire career.”
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The claims have not been independently verified by the club, and no public comment has been issued addressing the account.
There is no suggestion Lewandowski breached any regulations or acted improperly; he continued to play in both matches and finished the campaign as La Liga’s top scorer, albeit without adding to his tally in those closing fixtures.
Barcelona’s finances have come under intense scrutiny in recent years, with the club restructuring wages, renegotiating contracts and activating financial “levers” in a bid to stabilise their accounts.
The allegations in the biography, if accurate, illustrate the level of pressure the institution was facing during that period.
Lewandowski has been nothing short of sensational ever since his arrival, with the veteran still going strong at the age of 37.
He finished his first campaign with 33 goals across all competitions, with that number achieved from just 46 appearances.
Robert Lewandowski has been at Barcelona since joining from Bayern Munich back in 2022
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Lewandowski followed that up with 26 goals from 49 matches in his second season in Catalonia.
Last term, Barcelona won a La Liga and Copa del Rey double under Hansi Flick.
And the Poland international was central to that success, with the former Borussia Dortmund and Bayern star scoring a remarkable 42 goals from 52 games.
This term, Lewandowski has bagged seven times from nine league outings - though is yet to score in Europe.