Nagelsmann wants clarity on Lewandowski’s future | The Express Tribune


SEDAN:

With their tenth consecutive Bundesliga title secured, Bayern Munich manager Julian Nagelsmann wants to decide the future of star striker Robert Lewandowski so he can plan for the upcoming season.

As title celebrations lit up last Saturday after a home win over Dortmund meant Bayern could not be caught, Lewandowski was reluctant to discuss his plans.

The Pole’s contract expires in 2023, but while Bayern bosses insist he will stay next season, persistent rumors link the 33-year-old to Barcelona.

Lewandowski’s agent, Pini Zahavi, met with Bayern’s top brass at a Munich restaurant on Thursday, but no progress was made towards signing a contract extension.

“Basically, it’s always good to have planning security, in all areas of life, including strikers,” Nagelsmann said Friday. “That’s why I would also like us to come to an agreement.”

Nagelsmann is irritated by the constant speculation, adding: “I must have said 50 times that I wish he would stay.”

Lewandowski, voted FIFA’s best men’s player twice, has won every possible title with Bayern, whom he joined on a free transfer from Dortmund in 2014.

He is set to be crowned the Bundesliga’s top scorer for the fifth successive season and can add to his tally of 33 goals in Saturday’s game away to Mainz.

If he starts, Lewandowski will be without fellow striker Thomas Mueller, who will miss the trip to Mainz due to illness, Nagelsmann said.

In the fight for Champions League places, Freiburg can sneak into the top four with a victory at Hoffenheim on Saturday before RB Leipzig, currently in fourth place, take on Moenchengladbach on Monday.

Leipzig have extra time to recover, four days after their 1-0 home win over Rangers in the semi-final first leg left them on the verge of the Europa League final. The second leg is at Ibrox next Thursday.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the table, legendary Bundesliga manager Felix Magath likened keeping Hertha Berlin to winning a “gold” medal.

With three games remaining, Magath has managed to lift Hertha out of the relegation places to 15th with a four-point margin over 16th.

Hertha can take another step towards survival with a victory in second-from-bottom Bielefeld on Saturday.

Back-to-back wins over Augsburg and Stuttgart have left Hertha on the verge of securing a tenth successive season in Germany’s top flight, but Magath insists the fight is not over.

“By no means do we have ‘gold’ anymore,” said Magath, but the 68-year-old coach who led both Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg to Bundesliga titles said Hertha “could now go for silver” with a third consecutive win.

The 21-year-old star striker drew a blank in last Saturday’s table-top loss to Bayern and has been suffering from a nagging ankle injury that has limited him to two goals in his last seven games.

Borussia Dortmund manager Marco Rose says the injury that has plagued Haaland in recent weeks has now healed. “We have it well under control.”

Dortmund play at home to Bochum on Saturday and this could be one of Haaland’s last home appearances in the famous yellow shirt amid speculation he will join Manchester City next season.




Reference-tribune.com.pk

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