Hansi Flick stopped Barcelona superstar’s departure this summer – report

Barcelona are gearing up for a busy week ahead with multiple players expected to leave the club as part of their plans to trim the squad and reduce the wage bill.

While the majority of the outgoing players are not essential to Barcelona’s first-team plans, the departure of Ilkay Gundogan could be an outlier.

The German, who is all set to return to Manchester City, was a key cog in the Barcelona midfield.

But his decision to leave was influenced by his lack of prospects in the first-team this season, coupled with his salary, which was detrimental to the club’s future.

Flick stopped Lewandowski’s departure this summer

However, as reported by Alex Pintanel, Gundogan was not the veteran linked with a move away from Barcelona this summer.

As per the report, Lewandowski was touted for a potential move away from Barcelona when Xavi Hernandez was still in charge of the team.

This is hardly surprising as Lewandowski did not get along well with Xavi last season. The Pole, in fact, had reportedly raised many objections over Xavi’s unorganised and laid-back training regime.

With Lewandowski being one of the highest-paid players in the squad, Xavi wanted to get rid of the Pole in an attempt to reduce the wage bill this summer.

However, the striker’s exit plans were put to a half following the arrival of Hansi Flick, who had no desire to let the player go.

Flick had worked with Lewandowski during their time together at Bayern. Lewandowski, in fact, enjoyed his career-best season under the leadership of Flick and was extremely close to winning the Ballon d’Or.

Barcelona fans will hope the Lewandowski – Flick synergy can work its magic as the Catalans look to reclaim the league title this season.