The Polish forward told the BBC he had agreed to join Old Trafford in 2012, but Borussia Dortmund refused to approve the transfer. Lewandowski is now in his fourth season with FC Barcelona. The Polish striker clearly intends to remain one of the world’s top scorers. However, he made a confession to the BBC that surprised his fans.
The 36-year-old player revealed that his plans in 2012 were very different. At the time, after only two seasons with Borussia Dortmund, he wanted to move to another club, but Dortmund refused to let him go.
Positive changes for the striker
According to Mundo Deportivo, Lewandowski wanted to join Manchester United 13 years ago. He also received good offers from Blackburn Rovers and Old Trafford, but he couldn’t achieve his goal because the German club decided to keep him.
When Robert Lewandowski said “yes” to Man Utd in 2012 🤝🔴 pic.twitter.com/ZtPXWXTsb0
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) August 12, 2025
“I wanted to travel to Blackburn, but I have to admit I hadn’t yet decided if I really wanted to go there. For Manchester United, however, I had made my decision and said ‘yes’ to the club. I wanted to sign for Manchester United, meet Sir Alex Ferguson… but at that time, in my second year in Dortmund, they couldn’t sell me because they knew keeping me longer would bring them more money. Maybe they thought I could wait one or two more years. But yes, I said ‘yes’ to Manchester United,” he explained about a transfer that never happened.
Regarding the fact that he never played in the Premier League, the Pole said: “I don’t feel like I missed out on anything. Every move I made was my decision, because I wanted it, not because someone else did.”
Lewandowski stayed at Dortmund until 2014. He then joined Bayern Munich, where he played for eight seasons and became one of the best strikers in the world.
In 2022, he moved to FC Barcelona and became a star player, scoring 101 goals in 147 matches.
