Barcelona reach agreement with Robert Lewandowski over contract extension | OneFootball

Barcelona forward Robert Lewandowski will be staying at the club next season, come what may. The Polish forward, now in his third season in Catalonia, has found a second lease of life under Hansi Flick and currently leads La Liga in the Pichichi race, with a three-goal advantage over Kylian Mbappe so far.

Overall, Lewandowski has 31 goals and three assists in his 33 appearances this season, and has been lethal in front of goal at times. However it has not stopped talk that Barcelona are on the hunt for his replacement. The veteran hitman will be 37 as La Liga gets going next season, and in the last few months, Flick has seen fit to rest and rotate him much more often.

Lewandowski was always likely to earn an extension through a clause in his contract which would automatically lengthen his deal through to 2026 if he participated in half of the team’s games this season for a minimum of 45 minutes. He was likely to hit that figure this month already, but MD say that Barcelona have agreed an extension with Lewandowski ahead of time.

They say that Sporting Director Deco, President Joan Laporta and manager Hansi Flick all agreed on an extension for Lewandowski, who leads the Champions League scoring charts with Serhou Guirassy on nine goals too. Lewandowski turned down interest from Saudi Arabia this summer, and has often spoken about his desire to remain at Barcelona and at the top level of football for as many years as possible.

That has still done little to calm the talk of Barcelona’s search for his eventual replacement. This week alone, Barcelona have been linked with Newcastle United forward Alexander Isak, while Sporting CP’s Viktor Gyokeres is cited as a potentially cheaper option at around €65m for his services. Sooner or later, Barcelona will have to make a move, but splitting game time between two star number nines will not be easy.