Robert Lewandowski

{Profile Updated 19/06/2012}





Date of Birth: - 21st August 1988.



Nationality: - Polish



Height: - 6ft 0inches.



Position: - Striker



Club History: - Znicz

- Lech Poznan

- Borussia Dortmund





Linked With: - Rubin Kazan

- Spartak Moscow (Who are worried about losing Welliton, and a swap deal was proposed in January but rejected).

- Lille

- Manchester United

- Bayern Munich (although Dortmund do not want to sell him to them).

- Liverpool (but they have only had him watched and it is very unlikely they will sign the player).

- Real Madrid (as they are looking for a replacement for Higuain).





{Just to clarify, Dortmund and Lewandowski have not been able to agree over a new contract hence why speculation has arisen about his availability, although this could all change if both parties can reach an agreement.}







Estimated Market Value: - 25 million pounds.

















Club Career:



Znicz Pruszkow:

Prior to moving to Lech Poznan in 2008, Lewandowski played in Poland, in the third division and finished at the top scorer in the 06/07 season, and then once again the next season in the Polish 2nd division with the same club. This then attracted speculation that clubs from all over Europe may try and secure his services, but Poznan eventually sealed his signature at the age of 19.











Lech Poznan:

June 2008 - Lech Poznan (who play in the Polish first division) signed Lewandowski from Znicz for around 1 million Pounds.



July 2008 - Lewandowski made his debut for Poznan as a substitute in a first round UEFA Cup qualifier versus Khazar Lenkoran from Azerbaijan. In this match, he scored the winner of the game and sent Poznan through to the next round of the UEFA Cup.



During his Ekstraklasa (first division) debut in the first game of the season, in a match against GKS Belchatow Lewandoski scored a heel flick goal just minutes after coming into the game late in the second half as a substitute, and had a fantastic start to his career and started to become and instant fan favourite.



In his first season in the Polish top division, Lewandowski was second in the goal-scoring charts with 14 for the season.



The following season, Lewandowski became top scorer with 18 goals and helped his team win the 2009/2010 championship.















Borussia Dortmund:



11th June 2010 - After much speculation and rumours regarding Lewandowski and Dortmund, it was finally announced that he had signed a four-year contract with the German club in a transfer thought to be worth around 4.5 million Euro's.



19th September 2010 - Lewandowski scored his first goal in the Bundesliga to make it 3-0 in the 'Revierderby' against Schalke 04, as the game ended 3-1, a precious win in a title winning season for Dortmund in which he scored 8 goals in his debut season. Throughout the 2010/2011 season Lewandowski struggled to adjust to life in Germany, as he made 43 appearances but only scored 6 times - which certainly threatened his career at Dortmund.



The 2011/2012 Bundesliga campaign saw Lewandowski completely change from the striker he was the previous season, as he started to bang in the goals at a very consistent rate.



At the start of the season, Lewandowski found the net twice in DFB-Pokal first round win over SV Sandhausen (which finished 3-0).



20th August 2011 - Lewandowski opened his league account in a 2-0 win over Nurnberg.



1st October 2011 - Lewandowski provided an assist and netted a hat-trick in the club's 4-0 victory over FC Augsburg.



22nd October 2011 - Dortmund climbed into second place in the Bundesliga with a comfortable 5-0 victory over FC Koln, with Lewandowski finding the net in both the first half, as well as the second half.



17th December 2011 - Dortmund travelled to SC Freiburg where Lewandowski struck twice and provided an assist, as Dortmund eased to a 4-1 triumph.



22nd January 2012 - Following the winter break, Dortmund thrashed Hamburg 5-1 to move level on points with leaders Bayern Munich as Lewandowski netted twice and added an assist.



11th April 2012 - Lewandowski scored the only goal of the game in the massive 1-0 home win over Bayern Munich. This result gave Dortmund a six point cushion over their title rivals with only four games left to play.



In the final Bundesliga game of the campaign, Lewandowski scored two first-half goals as Dortmund beat Freiburg 4-0 and celebrated lifting the title.





11th May 2012 - Lewandowski was named the Bundesliga Player of the Season and finished the year as the third top goal scorer with 22 goals, none from the penalty spot, and six assists.



In the final game of the season for Dortmund, Lewandowski scored a hat-trick in the DFB-Pokal Final, a 5-2 win over Bayern Munich, to earn the club its first league and cup double.





Lewandowski finished as the DFB-Pokal's top goalscorer, with seven goals from six games.



















International Career:

Lewandowski made just three appearances for Poland's U21 team, in friendly matches against England, Belarus and Finland.



10 September 2008 - Lewandowski made his debut for the senior national team three weeks after his 20th birthday against San Marino where he came on as a sub and scored one goal. This made him the second youngest Polish National team scorer in history.



June 2012 - Lewandowski scored his first goal of Euro 2012 against Greece, but eventually crashed out of the tournament.





















Club Statistics:



Poznan: 82 appearances, 41 goals.



Dortmund: 89 appearances, 39 goals.



Total: 171 appearances, 80 goals.



















General Comments:



After watching Lewandowski play throughout the 2011/2012 season (not just the Euro's), I'm impressed by him, but not necesserily by his goals. I think his goals are impressive yes, and that he's a natural goal-scorer, he's a poacher. But what impresses me more is what he does off of the ball and in the build up play to a goal. He plays for his team, works hard, and gets rewarded by goals. It's brilliant.



I think he's deceivingly powerful, and I've noticed he isn't much of a diver, which instantly puts him in my good books. He stays on his feet, he goes into challenges, he dives into headers and he risks his body in order to create chances/score goals.



In January 2012, Dortmund were preperared to listen to a hypothetical bid from Spartak Moscow involving a swap deal for Welliton, however nothing came of it, but could do in the summer, as it looks very likely Welliton will leave the Russian side. As I covered earlier, I know that Liverpool have gone to watch him and are keeping an eye on him, but I wouldn't expect a move to happen to be honest, as I doubt he'd be interested in such a move.



I would say that the most likely clubs for Lewandowski if he moves on this summer (which is still not certain) would be Manchester United (who wish to seek a replacement for Berbatov etc) and Real Madrid (who wish to seek a replacement for Higuain). I would also say Munich are still in with a shout of securing Lewandowski, but Dortmund will try and price them out of a move but if an offer comes in which is too good to refuse, then they will sell to them. I would say that Lewandowski would relish a move to Manchester United, hence the recent speculation in the media etc that United seem set to sign him. This isn't the case at the moment, although it could easily happen as United seem very interested in the player.



Lewandowski is a very good player and has a very good footballing brain, and I for one would love to see him in the Premier League if I'm honest, but at the moment anything seems possible for this young lad, as he could stay with Dortmund, or go to anywhere in Europe. It will be an interesting one to keep an eye on that's for sure!







Thanks all,





Ed022.-}