Kahn urges Lewandowski to stay as Bayern rule out Haaland transfer

Just a few days after Bayern Munich’s disappointing exit from the Champions League, the club’s CEO Oliver Kahn faced the media and discussed the club’s elimination and squad planning for the 2022/23 season.

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Appearing on Sport 1 on Sunday, Kahn said the following on the Villarreal defeat: “If Thomas Müller was a little bit luckier, it could have been 2-0 and we could have gone on to progress. But, there can be no excuses. As Bayern Munich, we have to progress against Villarreal. We were surprised at the quality football Villarreal produced, at how they played out at the back. We assumed that they would rather play with long balls.”

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Oliver Kahn on Robert Lewandowski’s future

Looking ahead to next season, the big question in Bavaria right now is that of Robert Lewandowski’s future. On the Polish striker, Kahn said: “Robert has a contract with us for next season and we are in contact with Robert and want him to stay at Bayern for as long as possible. But, some seem to think it’s like Football Manager, where you just click a button and the contract gets extended. At some point, players this get the idea ‘I've achieved everything here and won everything’. Then it takes time to convince him to stay. But, look at the examples of players who changed clubs. What do we identify Cristiano Ronaldo with? With his time at Real Madrid. What do we identify Lionel Messi with? With his time at Barcelona. It's the same with Robert.”

Oliver Kahn on the possibility of Bayern Munich signing Haaland

While Kahn remains hopeful that Lewandowski will decide to continue adding to his Bayern legacy, instead of pursuing a new adventure elsewhere, there is a chance he could depart in the next year or two and that the Bundesliga champions will have to find a replacement.

Many Bayern Munich fans would like that replacement to be Erling Haaland and Kahn confirmed that the club have scouted the Norwegian. But, he added that the fee and wages would be too high, explaining: “I don't think we would be doing our job properly if we didn't consider such a young striker. He's an excellent striker and a very interesting player for the future. But the financial dimensions are beyond our imagination."