With Radamel Falcao gone and Robin van Persie all but off Manchester United's books, Manchester United have both the need for a top striker and the money to sign one. Wayne Rooney will be depended on quite a bit this coming season and won't be shifted into midfield at all, but the Red Devils still need another forward. Enter Robert Lewandowski, maybe.
United have been linked to the Bayern Munich forward, who had a solid but not quite spectacular first season for the Bavarians. They're not looking to sell him, but since they got him on a free transfer and he's not a completely perfect fit for Pep Guardiola's setup, there is probably a price at which they'd be willing to part with him. Lewandowski's agent says it'll be at least €50m, or about £35m to the English. That's perfectly affordable.
That's not to say he thinks a sale is going to happen. "Bayern would have to think about why they would get rid of Robert Lewandowski," said Cezary Kucharski. "It seems to me that there is no reason to even think about it."
But you're the one who threw out the number, buddy, so we're going to think about it. Your fault.
Why it makes sense
Lewandowski is a lot better than van Persie or Falcao. He might not be better than Rooney on Rooney's best day, but he's certainly more consistent. He could play as the highest up or second striker in a strike pairing, or up top by himself. However Louis van Gaal wants to use Lewandowski, he'll fit. And since he's 26 years old, with four consecutive very good Bundesliga seasons behind him, he's a pretty low-risk signing.
If €50m is indeed the price that gets United to the negotiating table, they'd be silly not to offer it. That's not a fee that should deter them at all. If they're going to try to sign Edinson Cavani or Gonzalo Higuain, they'd almost certainly need to pay more than that, and Lewandowski's been better than both of them over the past couple of seasons.
Why it doesn't make sense
Bayern aren't loaded at center forward, haven't been linked to any huge name strikers, and all their top youth prospects are central midfielders or wingers. There's no ready-made replacement for Lewandowski lined up. So unless Pep's gone off the deep end or there's some personal issues we don't know about, there's no reason for Bayern to sell him. They certainly don't need the money.
So why did his agent spit that number out? Did he think €50m would be a deterrent? Or does he want to invite bids? That's the weirdest part of this rumor. Kucharski says over and over that there's no reason for Bayern to sell Lewandowski and that he doesn't want to leave, but he spits out a prospective transfer fee that is extremely affordable? What a strange comment.
Likelihood it happens
If €50m is anywhere near the real asking price, 9/10. There's no reason United shouldn't write Bayern a check for that amount immediately. But in reality, Bayern's probably not going to sell and would demand quite a bit more than that. Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and sporting director Matthias Sammer might place a phone call to Kucharski and ask him to stop talking. We'll call it a 4/10 chance United signs Lewandowski at whatever the real asking price is, which is likely €10-15m north of Kucharski's number.