Thoughts on Lewandowski’s transfer to Chicago Fire, and what him playing in the MLS might mean for Poland going forward

Image via @ChicagoFire on Twitter

You may or may not have noticed that this website has “gone dark” if you will, on the basis of the fact that the World Cup is on and despite there being a couple of Polish transfers of note, they weren’t necessarily the kind of moves I wanted to fully explore in an article at this moment in time. 

Of course, Robert Lewandowski moving to Chicago Fire of the MLS, as was formally announced yesterday, is very much something worth writing about. This has been a move in the pipeline for a little while, and quite possibly much longer when you consider it was a long-standing notion that Lewandowski wished to begin winding down his career in the USA. 

There is a real duality to the reaction around this move. One camp is of the opinion that this is a real boon for the Polish diaspora in America, and I’m certainly not going to argue against that. The other opinion is a little more cynical and sporting based, feeling that perhaps this isn’t the highest calibre of move Lewandowski could’ve achieved this summer. 

Regardless of which of these camps you fall into, you’d be wanting to know how this will affect the still unclear future of Lewandowski in the Polish national team, and I’ll get into that a bit later. First up, I’d like to discuss the nuts and bolts of this transfer.

You imagine that the financial level of the reported two-season, $20million per-year contract was a big factor in why Lewandowski didn’t deliberate any further on whether or not the MLS and Chicago was the right move. Also, despite the hand-wringing about this being “only” the MLS, it is a perfectly entertaining and decent standard of football, although perhaps it isn’t as taxing as other leagues physically for an aging superstar such as Lewandowski.

Personally I think this transfer is indicative of a few things regarding how Lewandowski sees the end of his career. Firstly, the USA is a fairly long distance from Europe geographically, which might tell us something about whether or not he will be continuing with the Polish national team. This is a concern, and we know that being based in America has played a part in the past when it comes to joining up late with training camps for the international break. 

I am more confident than some about how I would read this transfer in the context of Lewandowski’s uncertain future with the national team. Firstly, it’s a two-year contract which means there may be retirement planned post-Euro 2028, should Poland qualify. Lewandowski will be 40 years old at that point anyway, which does seem to increasingly be the retirement age for the modern footballer. 

There is also context around how Lewandowski sees himself still contributing in a Poland shirt, if this will be the case. We’ve seen older players who are talismanic for their countries play in less demanding leagues than they are capable of in order to keep fresh for their national team, a great example being Lionel Messi at this current World Cup. However, if you look at someone like Cristiano Ronaldo or Son Heung-Min, this can also easily go the other way. 

This last point for me would be the biggest potential worry of a perceived drop in standard, as after all the MLS is not LaLiga and we already saw a few worrying signs of Lewandowski’s ability regressing in the Nigeria friendly at the start of this month. However, I wouldn’t be panicking on this basis as it is quite eminently possible we see the much more positive interpretation of the previous paragraph. 

At the end of the day, only Lewandowski himself and those closest to him know how concrete the perceived “better offers” we’ve heard about in the previous weeks were. For me, this could work out very nicely as a smart move which prolongs Lewandowski’s career a few more years yet, both for club and country. 

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