Reports suggest that Bayern Munich have placed a huge price tag on wantaway striker Robert Lewandowski.
Lewandowski's desire to leave the Allianz Arena has been public knowledge for a while now, with the Pole having explicitly told the Bayern hierarchy he thinks his time with Die Roten has come to an end.
Barcelona have been the club heavily touted to land the 33-year-old's signature next, and reports last week claimed that the striker has agreed personal terms with the Catalan giants. Now all that is left is for the two clubs to agree on a fee for the Polish hitman.
Barca's first reported offer of €32 million (R538 million) for the forward was rejected by the Bavarians, with Sport now stating that only a fee in the region of €50 million (R842 million) will be enough to get the German side to the negotiating table.
The Blaugrana have needed to sell TV rights and parts of their merchandising division in order to facilitate moves in the market, having been marred by financial instability over the past couple of years, and some big player sales are on the cards too.
The same report suggests that the Bundesliga champions were waiting to secure the services of a Lewandowski replacement before engaging in any talks with Barca involving the departure of Bayern's second all-time top goalscorer.
With the arrival of Liverpool attacker Sadio Mane now seemingly imminent, this perhaps leaves the door ajar for the Poland international to leave Germany.
Despite his age, Lewandowski has been able to find the back of net more than 40 times in the past two seasons for Bayern, goalscoring form that Barca boss Xavi Hernandez will be hoping the striker can emulate at the Camp Nou should the deal be successful.
