5 Candidates to Replace Robert Lewandowski at Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich's director of sport Hasan Salihamidzic recently came out in the German media and stated that the club's star player Robert Lewandowski had asked to leave the club.

The Polish international, whose contract at the Allianz Arena runs until June 2023, has been linked with moves away to many of Europe's biggest clubs in recent months, with Barcelona being touted as the leading favourites to sign the forward. And after Saturday's draw against Wolfsburg in which he scored his 50th goal of the season, the former Borussia Dortmund striker stated, "I can confirm that I spoke to Hasan [Salihamidzic] and informed him that the decision was made and that I am not extending my contract with Bayern".

And so, Die Roten will begin the search for a new striker as soon as possible - Lewandowski has enjoyed a fruitful spell at the club, winning eight league titles, three German Cups and the Champions League during his time in Bavaria, scoring 344 goals in the process.

His goals for the club will be missed and difficult to replace, so it is imperative that the club get in a suitable replacement who is capable of scoring goals. Here, we take a look at five players whom Bayern could sign to replace their talisman...

What better replacement for the 509-career goal Pole than a striker who has managed to put similar numbers? Currently playing for Spanish side Atletico Madrid, striker Luis Suarez, who has turned out for top European clubs such as Ajax, Liverpool and Barcelona throughout his playing career, has scored 436 goals in just under 700 career appearances.

He is highly regarded as one of the best goal-scorers of this generation, with his pace and movement helping him to goals and trophies wherever he has played.

The 35-year-old's contract is expiring at the end of June, and it has been confirmed in recent weeks that he will be leaving Atletico on that date. His 21 goals in 32 league appearances helped Atletico to Spanish football's top prize in 2020-21, and those numbers show that he is still a force to be reckoned with despite his advancing years.

A move to a slower league where Bayern are afforded plenty of time and space on the ball, and where many teams are suspect defensively would certainly suit Suarez, who would surely relish the opportunity to add guaranteed trophies to his already impressive haul. A player of Suarez's calibre and experience would be an exceptional signing for the club.

Could Bayern make a move for the current Liverpool forward, whose contract only has just a year left to run?

Since joining the Reds in 2016 for what is now considered to be a steal at just £34m, the Senegalese forward has been vital to the success of the Merseyside club. He had scored 119 goals and contributed nearly 50 assists for Jurgen Klopp's side, helping Liverpool on their way to lifting the Premier League, Carabao Cup, FA Cup, Champions League and the Club World Cup since 2019.

What makes Mane's numbers astonishing is that they haven't come from playing as a striker - Mane has put these kind of numbers up mostly from playing on the wing as an inside forward.

Now while Mane isn’t a pure striker, he’s certainly capable of occupying the position, evidenced by the recent arrival of Luis Diaz to Liverpool. Diaz is a winger, meaning that on occasion, Jurgen Klopp has moved Mane to a more central position in the forward line to accommodate Diaz. And to his credit Mane had impressed up top, most recently popping up with 2 key goals against Villarreal in the Champions League and in a tight league game against Aston Villa.

In the 16 games this season where he has played up-front, Mane has managed to bag 11 goals. So he certainly knows where the back of the net is playing from any position in the frontline, and with the amount of space that some Bundesliga sides give to the opposition, Mane would surely thrive in Bayern's frontline.

After having never scored more than 10 goals in a Bundesliga campaign, with 10 in the 2019-20 season for RB Leipzig and nine the following season for Bayer Leverkusen, Patrik Schick looked like just another average Bundesliga striker. But with 24 goals in 27 appearances this season, outscoring his previous two campaigns combined, he has "broke out", in a sense, with his 24 goals meaning he is the division's second top goal-scorer behind only Lewandowski.

His goals have helped Bayer Leverkusen up to third in the table, and it is this impressive form that may have caught the eye of Bayern, who will be on the lookout for players like Schick as potential replacements for Lewandowski.

The Czech Republic international was sensational for Leverkusen this year, and his form has caught the attention of many clubs - Bayern being one of them. Bayern may see Schick's impressive season as a sign that he is capable of handling the Bundesliga, and by extension, capable of being Lewandowski's replacement in the Bayern set-up.

With playmakers of high quality such as Thomas Muller and Leroy Sane to be feeding him chance after chance, Schick could become a very prolific goal-scorer and at just 26, he could spend his peak years leading the line for Bayern.

Bayern have a history of taking the best players from other clubs in the Bundesliga- could they repeat the trick with Stuttgart's Sasa Kalajdzic?

The 24-year-old Austrian, who has made 15 appearances for his club this season, is highly rated and is reportedly being sought after by other top clubs on the continent such as Manchester United, Benfica and PSG.

Bayern also holds an interest in the forward, with meetings between Bayern officials and the player's representatives having already been conducted. The forward has impressed ever since his move from the Austrian league to the German top flight, with 24 goals and nine assists in just under 60 appearances for Stuttgart, with six of these goals coming in his 15 league appearances this season - Kalajdzic actually scored in the 2-2 draw between Bayern and Stuttgart 2 weeks ago.

He was the sixth highest top-scorer in the league in the 2020-21 season with 16 goals to his name and could’ve scored a similar amount again this season were it not for a shoulder injury that kept him out for 15 games at the start of the season.

If they were to sign him, Bayern Munich would be getting a relatively young forward who has some Bundesliga experience, and who has the ability to grow and become more prolific in their side.

If Stuttgart are unable to get their man to renew his current deal, then they will be looking to sell him rather than risk losing him on a free transfer in a year, with figures in the media reporting that Stuttgart are holding out for somewhere between £15m to £20m for the Austrian international.

And after what has been a poor season in which they have just about survived with a 15th-place league finish, Stuttgart will be keen on keeping their main source of goals for survival next term. But if they aren't able to do this, then any transfer fee they receive for him can be used to reinvest in their poor squad.

With the bright lights and glory of Bayern Munich likely to tempt the forward to the Allianz Arena, it's likely that Stuttgart will see the striker depart this summer.

The Ivorian international has previously been linked with a move to Bavaria, but it is more likely to happen now than before.

With Lewandowski now leaving, Haller would see himself become the starting striker for the club if he were to join - something that would not have happened if he had joined the club when Lewandowski was there.

After a poor spell in the Premier League with West Ham, Haller made the move to Dutch side Ajax, where he has been in scintillating form. He has bagged 34 goals in all competitions this season, with 11 of them coming in the Champions League.

The tactical set-up of West Ham didn’t extract Haller’s best form, but the slower and less physically demanding leagues on the continent do, shown by his ability to get back to good goalscoring form straight away as soon as he joined Ajax.

With previous Bundesliga experience under his belt during a two-year stint at Eintracht Frankfurt, this also makes Haller an attractive option for the Bavarians - in 77 appearances for Frankfurt he managed 33 goals, helping his side to a DFB-Pokal win in 2018.

Whilst the profile of Haller is a bit different to other strikers that Bayern may target, he is still a relatively reliable goal-scorer and so is an option that the club may look into.