Barcelona begged Lewandowski to stop scoring — Polish journalist claims

A Polish journalist, Sebastian Staszewski, has claimed that Barcelona implored Robert Lewandowski to stop scoring after they secured the league title in his first season to avoid paying Bayern Munich more in bonuses. 

Staszewski is said to be publishing an autobiography on the Barcelona striker. In the book, he detailed an incident from Lewandowski's first season: A meeting with the club's leadership, in which Lewandowski was instructed to stop scoring. 

“Barcelona, in a meeting in which the president, Joan Laporta, was present, asked him to stop scoring goals,” he said, per Diario AS. 

“And that the reason was economic, because Barcelona had to pay Bayern a bonus of €2.5m if the Polish striker reached 25 goals. With the title already secured, Barcelona would have chosen to ask him to stop scoring.”

Lewandowski joined Barcelona from Bayern Munich in July 2022 in a deal worth €45m up front plus €5m in potential add-ons.

Barcelona signed him on a three-year contract as part of a summer rebuild, even though the club was still wrestling with post-COVID debt, a very large wage bill and the costly Espai Barça/Camp Nou reconstruction that constrained their finances. 

On the field Lewandowski’s debut season (2022–23) was a success: he won the Pichichi (LaLiga top scorer) with 23 goals in 34 league games and helped Barcelona lift the LaLiga title. 

Lewandowski reached 23 goals with two games to go in the season, and according to the claim, he could have gotten even more had the club not clipped his wings due to economical factors.