From a return on investment perspective, Robert Lewandowski to Bayern Munich may be the single most lucrative transfer in the history of football. Originally signed from Borussia Dortmund on a free, the Polish international striker moved to FC Barcelona last summer after eight long years in the Bavarian capital, winning eight Bundesliga titles and a Champions League crown along the way.
Lewandowski’s cost to performance ratio is effectively undefined, since he signed for free and scored an insane number of goals in his time at the club. However, selling him to Barcelona will end up being plenty lucrative for Bayern in the long run.
According to Bild, Barca paid a 45m base fee and promised 5m in bonuses to sign the striker last summer. Those bonuses were always assumed to be “easily achievable.” Now, we’ve found out how achievable they really are. Here’s how it breaks down: