Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that striker Robert Lewandowski will join Bayern Munich on a free transfer next summer.
Lewandowski has only one year left on his contract and Dortmund were prepared to sell him this summer but only if he moved abroad.
But the 24-year-old has set his sights on moving to Bayern, agreeing to personal terms months ago. But after seeing Mario Goetze move this summer to their rivals, Dortmund could not allow another of their stars to also join Bayern in the same summer.
“It is a known fact that Robert is going to play for Bayern after the upcoming season. Now the only question is how to shape the time until then. That is our commitment to ensure that we will have a more competitive team in the upcoming season” said Klopp.
“Up to a certain point we were with Robert’s desire for change and were ready to talk. But nothing happened so we had to eventually say a sale now no longer works for us.
“And now we want to prove that, with a quality player like Robert, we can be successful in the coming year.”