Quote from: Antotena on June 23, 2025, 10:47:06 PM

Quote from: fuguebtc on June 23, 2025, 05:46:54 PM

Barcelona will not sell Lewandowski. Lewa is now almost 37 years old. Even then, he is able to perform brilliantly. We have seen a lot of goals from Lewa this season too. Lewa is Barcelona's top scorer. Barcelona definitely needed Lewandowski in this season.

However, Barcelona will not have the 37-year-old Lewandowski with the squad for a long time. That is why Barcelona will have to try to create a worthy replacement for Lewandowski from this season. With this aim, Barcelona is going to buy Nico Williams. Nico Williams will make a place in Barcelona's main squad in the next few seasons. It is unlikely that Williams will be seen in Barcelona's starting XI this season. Lewandowski, Yamal and Rafinha will be in the starting XI.

Barcelona isn't selling Lewandowski and it's not because of his age, it's because they don't have any choice. They don't have the money to buy player that will be up to Lewandowski standard without breaking the bank. They can get any striker they need but getting upto that Lewandowski qualities will take years of training with experience and that is going to cost them, they don't want to go back where they left where they just pick recently to win Laliga 2 times.

I see players flinch when they get older but it's unusual of Lewandowski to play that way, his touches are still super strong and making 40+ goals isn't something Yamal and Raphina could ever do, maybe someday but with what they have played from the beginning, there is much they can to best men after Lewandowski. He is still representing his national team, hasn't retire and that's because he is fit, and not juts that he is there captain too.

Nobody is arguing that Lewandowski is not special. Guy has just broken 42 goals at 36 years! That is a physical outlier, not your average striker past his prime. It is not just about "cannot buy better". Barcelona have built their whole attack around his movement, experience and the ripple effect on younger stars. When people watch Lewy, they say, "just get another goal machine". However, the reality is that those 40+ goals are the last link of a chain with Yamal and Raphinha as the creative forces, not goalscorers as yet. Lewy is there to not only finish, but also to take the spotlight/pressure off the 17-year-old Yamal, who is about to become the face of the club

And the money, well, it is true, Barca cannot play fantasy football at this moment. The wage bill of the club is more or less a straightjacket (thanks, UEFA 70% rule). And the huge salary of Lewandowski is the final hangover of the galacticos that they are keeping until they have to get rid of it. Nobody is going to pay a transfer fee to take a veteran earning 32M/year off your books in this era

However, keeping Lewandowski one more season is literally the only way of bridging to the next era without a crash landing. Flick and Deco are already planning life without a real No. 9. Consider "false nine" with Olmo or more liquid front threes. And so you keep the machine running with the last dance of Lewy, make Yamal a superstar and then pull the plug before you get into another Messi/Suarez-style disaster. Not selling can be sometimes smarter than selling at the wrong time