What will Robert Lewandowski bring to Xavi’s FC Barcelona?
Robert Lewandowski has become the star signing of FC Barcelona in this summer market. The Blaugrana team closed the incorporation of the Pole with Bayern Munich for a fixed 45 million euros plus 5 million euros in variables for performance. One of the most important moves in LaLiga in the last 5 years and an arrival that places the club at a higher level compared to previous seasons.
It is time to put the magnifying glass on what it can contribute Robert Lewadowski to the team led by Xavi Hernández, who will have his first big world star to try to fight for the LaLiga title and for the UEFA Champions League.
What will Robert Lewandowski bring to Xavi Hernández’s FC Barcelona?
-Mobility within the area: The Pole is one of the best moving attackers in the box in the world. He is decisive in said rectangle, both for his ability to appear as a free option for the passer and when it comes to anticipating the rival defender to reach a finishing zone. His mobility is key to what he is today, being the best striker in the world when it comes to finishing off wide crosses. He is not capable of inverting goals like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, so the team has to generate play so that he can reach the goal.
-Resources to define: He is a lethal attacker. He is one of the attackers (9) with the best goal record compared to the shots he makes (Jordi Cordero’s chart). He is a good header and has a lethal definition with the foot, being able to do it with any part of the foot. This trait, together with his mobility inside the rival area, has made him one of the best strikers in the world in the last decade.
The Barça team needs a finisher of his ability. A player who got to a shooting zone and who was practically infallible. And with Lewandowski he has it in broad strokes. He doesn’t need much inside the area to score either.
–Out-of-area mobility: He is not a player who stands out for his sensitivity when intervening in the game. It is not Karim Benzema or Roberto Firmino, but it has shown that it can make a difference far from the area: Unchecks in break to attack free spaces, with your back to hold the rival and then connect with the arrivals and short unchecks to finish the play in the area. He does not stand out when it comes to descending and being a support for the passers (playing between the lines), but he does not only stand out for his game inside the area.
Barcelona needed a piece that offered solutions within the area. It brings you closer to the goal with other variants beyond the game. When the team cannot generate inside, with the Pole a lateral center to the area makes much more sense and danger.
-Possibility to press up: He is an attacker who contributes a lot without the ball when he defends forward. Barcelona is a team that looks to press up high to get the ball back quickly, so the Pole can bring a lot as the opposition’s first opposition to progress from the bottom.