Robert Lewandowski agreed Man Utd transfer because he ‘couldn’t say no’ to Sir Alex Ferguson but move collapsed
ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI agreed to join Manchester United after a phone call with Sir Alex Ferguson… before Borussia Dortmund blocked the deal.
SunSport exclusively sat down with the Polish striker, 35, as he paid tribute to former manager Jurgen Klopp following his Liverpool farewell.
Lewandowski played under Klopp for four years at Dortmund – where he scored 103 goals in 187 games.
But after two seasons he nearly left in 2012 when he attempted to secure a move to Man Utd.
And he has now recalled talking with Sir Alex about the switch, only for Dortmund to refuse the transfer.
Speaking at the announcement of his partnership with gaming company G2A, he said: “I have to say that I had decided to go to Manchester United.
“I remember when I was speaking with Sir Alex Ferguson and I was already decided.
“I was 22, 23 [years old] and it was after one or two years in Dortmund [when Sir Alex called me]. You cannot say no [to him], it’s the prime of Manchester United, the prime of Sir Alex Ferguson. I was decided, okay, I want to join to Manchester United.
“But in the end Dortmund said no. So I had to respect this.”
At the time, Dortmund had just won successive Bundesliga titles.
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Behind the scenes with Robert Lewandowski
ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI is just as impressive off the pitch as he has been on it for the best part of 20 years, writes SunSport's Dylan Terry.
From the moment he walked into the room of 30 or 40 people at the G2A media day, there was a humbleness you would not expect from one of the best players of his generation.
He then proceeded to give what appeared to be an off-the-cuff speech about his excitement for the partnership – a task many sports stars may have found daunting but which Lewandowski took in his stride.
Sitting down for the interview, he was quick to ask about my time in Barcelona and how I had found the city.
He then proceeded to joke that I had “forgotten my sun cream” after catching a glimpse of my redder-than-usual complexion.
Across the next 15 minutes he was happy to answer anything, speaking with an impressive eloquence and relaxed nature.
At the end I requested a photo which was warmly received by Lewandowski – who was happy to oblige.
We shook hands and he wished me the best, before he prepared for his next two interviews in German and Polish.
And while they failed to repeat the feat in Lewandowski’s final two seasons at the club, Klopp’s men did reach the Champions League final in 2013 – losing at Wembley to Bayern Munich.
Lewandowski then went on to win eight more Bundesliga titles after joining Bayern in 2014, along with the Champions League in 2020.
Meanwhile, Sir Alex dusted himself down following the Lewandowski disappointment and went on to sign Robin van Persie – who fired Fergie to the last of his 13 Premier League titles with 26 goals.
Lewandowski, now at Barcelona, was speaking to SunSport while promoting gaming company G2A.
And what Sir Alex saw in the Pole on the pitch more than a decade ago, G2A founder Bartosz Skwarczek now sees in his attitude off the field.
Discussing the link-up, Skwarczek said: “He is a professional. This is what we admire about Robert, whatever he does he does it seriously.
“This is also our approach. So it doesn’t matter for us whether we do a customer journey, or the payments part of it, or the user experience for the client that is sitting in India, we treat it seriously.
“Robert is exactly the same.”
G2A.COM is the world’s largest and most trusted marketplace for digital entertainment where users can choose from more than 75,000 digital offerings including games, DLCs, in-game items, as well as non-gaming items like gift cards, subscriptions and software.