Lewandowski claims Barcelona asked him not to score to avoid paying Bayern bonus

Robert Lewandowski has claimed the Barcelona hierarchy asked him to stop scoring goals at the tail end of the 2022-23 season, in order to avoid paying a transfer bonus to Bayern Munich.

Lewandowski joined the Catalan giants from Bayern in a deal reportedly worth €45m plus add-ons in July 2022, after eight hugely successful seasons with Bayern.

He hit 23 goals in 34 appearances in LaLiga in his debut campaign with Barca, as they won their first league title since Lionel Messi’s 2021 departure.

Lewandowski’s arrival came at a time when Barca were going through major financial turmoil, with club president Joan Laporta pulling various financial “levers” to avoid falling foul of LaLiga’s salary cap rules.

And Lewandowski has now extraordinarily claimed he was told to be less prolific near the end of his debut campaign, so the club could save money on performance-related add-ons.

“I don’t really want to talk about it. I have too much respect for Barcelona and for the people who work there,” Lewandowski told Radio Zet in Poland.

“I was aware of the situation the club was in. There were many other situations where you had to sacrifice something personally for the good of the club.

“In short, it was about a bonus that would have to be paid depending on the number of goals I scored. And at that time, Barcelona were looking for every single euro.

“The bonus wasn’t a small amount. For me personally, it wouldn’t have changed anything, so I didn’t really have a problem with it.”

Asked if he heeded the request, Lewandowski said: “Well… it stays in your head.

“It stays there, even if it’s just a small percentage, but it was enough that once I actually hesitated whether to score a goal or not.

“And at the highest level of football, that’s enough. Sometimes that 5%, even 3%, can decide whether you win or whether you score.”

Lewandowski has eight goals in LaLiga so far this season, with Hansi Flick’s team boasting a four-point lead over Real Madrid at the summit after 18 matchdays.