Barcelona’s veteran striker Robert Lewandowski, 36, remembers the first time he saw his teammate Lamine Yamal in training.
“He was 15, really 15. And first time in my life I saw someone, because I saw a lot of young, talented players, but first time in my life I saw that I have inside this [feeling], ‘Wow, how is possible in this age?’ It’s impossible to be so good, so clever also in this age.”
Speaking to the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, Lewandowski, who leads the scoring charts in La Liga this season with 14 goals, explained how he helps Lamal, who is now 17.
“I always try to give him maybe some kind of advice that for one side, it’s amazing what he did, what he’s doing, but also you have to think that soon for him will be the huge challenge to stay on this level or maybe do the next step,” Lewandowski said.
“And it’s not about the next two, three years,” he added. “We are talking about next maybe 10 years that he should be thinking about what he should do to be on the top, like 28, 29, 30 or even longer. And that I think for him is the biggest challenge of his career.”
Lewandowski knows a thing or two about challenges. After coming to prominence in his native Poland, he moved to Germany, playing for Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, before he joined the Catalans in 2022. At Dortmund he worked under coach Jurgen Klopp, who spoke to him for 90 minutes after one Uefa Champions League defeat in his second season at the club.
“At that time I started to speak German, but not so influenced [fluent] that I could understand everything,” Lewandowski explained. “I feel that I don’t know what he wants from me, what he expects from me. I have to talk with him. Because I lost my father when I was 16 years old and in my life, I didn’t have someone who I could always speak about my problems or my things. So, I was the guy at that time who was very close[d]. And I knew when I go to speak with him, maybe I feel better. Maybe because of my private situation, or like emotion, that I need that time [in my life] something like this kind of conversation.”
Dortmund’s next game was in the Bundesliga two days later.
“After two days, nothing, what you can change in two days? We won 4-0. I scored a hat-trick and made the assist.”
Lewandowski controversially moved to Bayern – Dortmund’s main rivals – in 2014. He scored 55 goals in the Covid-hit 2019/20 season as Bayern won the Champions League, yet the Ballon d’Or award was postponed for a year because of the pandemic.
“At that time, I didn’t understand why,” he says. “Because every league was playing, Champions League was playing, and that was like, for me, whoa, why? I knew how football works sometimes, politics also, because if you have football, you have business. If you have business, you have politics and everything working. Money in the end, of course.”
He stayed at Bayern, where he played with a young Joshua Zirkzee, now at Manchester United.
“He plays amazing with the back to the goal,” he said of Zirkzee. “He can hold the ball. He can play with one touch or two touches and bring the wingers to behind his back.
“He has also good finishing in the box because he's big. He's young, but he's big and I think he can keep the ball, hold the ball very, very strong. Of course, he needs a little bit of time.
“It’s normal if you join this kind of club, a big club with a huge expectation. He scored a lot of goals in Serie A. For him, that was the first season that he was involved as a typical striker. But you know that now the time for Manchester is not so brilliant.
“But he’s the striker. He can really help the team if you know how to use him. Also, he can score the goals. I think he’s not a typical goal-scoring striker. He’s also the player who can help the teammates to create the space for them.”
Manchester United is seldom too far from Lewandowski's mind as he almost moved to Old Trafford at one point.
“I remember one conversation with Sir Alex Ferguson. That was 2012,” he told Ferdinand, who was playing for United at that time.
“I remember the conversation that was in the ... Before pre-season, we were playing some games. I knew that he’s going to call to me. And at half time, I was subbed off because I knew that I was playing 45 minutes. I had the call. And that time, you know, my English, you know, that was on a different level."
Ferdinand asked him if he was nervous.
“Oh, very,” replied Lewandowski. “And, you know, he’s going to speak easy English, yeah? And he called. ‘Hello, my name is Robert Lewandowski. Yeah, hi, hi …’ You know, this Scottish accent! I knew what I should tell him, you know. Yeah, of course, I want to join Manchester United, yeah.”
So why didn’t he sign?
“Ask the club, you know. No, I remember that time … I remember also the conversation with the president of Dortmund. He said to me, they need me. They’re not going to sell me to Manchester United because I’m so important for them. And it’s not the perfect time now. So, yeah. But that time I said yes, yeah, that's true. I said yes to join Manchester United because if Sir Alex Ferguson calls you, you cannot say no, you know. Especially when I was 22 or 23 years old. That time I was playing for Dortmund. Even though I was happy, but Manchester United were like the prime Manchester United.”
United were happy to sign him, but Ferguson was told no by Dortmund. United signed Robin van Persie instead, who was five years older than Lewandowski. United did win the Premier League in 2013 but haven’t won it since. As the top scorer in every team he played for, Lewandowski has won eight Bundesliga titles since and one La Liga title. United can only think what might have been if he had joined them.
Listen to the full Rio Meets Robert Lewandowski interview on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
