Chelsea transfer news: Timo Werner swap for Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski?
Nicholas Mendola
Polish association football player
Robert Lewandowski and Timo Werner switching places? It's been discussed by Chelsea and Bayern Munich and is an absolutely tantalizing transfer swap that would light up the transfer window.
Clearly, we'd be talking about the summer unless both teams want to mail in the Champions League to their opponents but it is intriguing nonetheless.
The rumor comes from Ian McGarry (and Duncan Castles) on The Transfer Window Podcast.
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Werner is under contract to Chelsea through the 2024-25 season, while Lewandowski is signed with Bayern through next season.
Let's dig deeper into the mix, as Bayern would move Lewandowski before the final year of his deal (and just before a World Cup, should Poland beat Russia and Sweden or the Czech Republic).
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Robert Lewandowski to Chelsea, Timo Werner to Bayern Munich
Lewandowski has also been linked with Real Madrid — for quite a while, actually — and the 33-year-old Polish striker is one of, if not the most prolific center forwards in the world.
Werner was moving toward the title of most complete playmaking forward when he left for Chelsea on the heels of a 34-goal, 22-assist season across all competitions with RB Leipzig in 2019-20.
He scored 12 goals with 16 assists in his first season at Chelsea.
Here's what the report says:
"It is certainly the case that he (Pini Zahavi) has offered Lewandowski to Chelsea and Granovskaia. A move which could include Werner going to Bayern. The prospect for Tuchel/Werner is appealing and is being discussed."
Lewandowski is 7.5 years older than Chelsea's German star but is averaging more than a goal-per-game between the Champions League and Bundesliga this season.
He has not played outside Der Klassiker rivals Bayern and Borussia Dortmund — the next derby is this weekend — since leaving Lech Poznan in 2010.
The logistics of the actual player-for-player swap makes sense but not when system is added into the mix. How does a team give Romelu Lukaku and Robert Lewandowski the best chances to hit their clinical-finishing best at the same time, as clearly neither player is prepared to be a second-choice center forward (nor should they even be considering it).
So this seems extremely unlikely, especially as Lewandowski tries to go somewhere that amplifies his already-remarkable legacy.
Precursor to a Haaland move
That's about the only way, even including release clauses, that Bayern could make its latest Klassiker raid include Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian striker scores for fun and apart from Kylian Mbappe is perhaps the only center forward who could do as much for a side as Lewandowski (apologies to Lionel Messi, who isn't exactly a center forward anyway).
Haaland is not going to Bayern while Lewandowski is still there. Lewandowski is not signing another deal in Munich. And with Lewandowski in the final year of his contract, a move will come sooner rather than later.
We still think Man City not finding a way to make it happen in August was the biggest mistake of the season.
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Chelsea transfer news: Timo Werner swap for Bayern Munich's Robert Lewandowski? originally appeared on NBCSports.com