'Desperate' Barcelona hike up bid for main transfer target

Both FC Barcelona and transfer target Robert Lewandowski are desperate to get the deal over line. However, Bayern Munich is not interested in letting go of Europe's top scorer. As time starts to run out, the Catalan giants have reportedly sanctioned a significantly improved bid to try to get the Bavarians to budge.

Bayern Munich officials have always made it clear that they see Lewandowski as their player until his contract runs out at the end of the coming season. This is the stance even if they are risking losing him on a free transfer. The fact of the matter is, they simply won't be able to sell him now and find a suitable replacement of comparable quality with the money that they will earn from his sale.

However, the player himself has made it clear that he wants to leave. He is legally bound by his contract regardless of his desires, but Barcelona has been working hard to try to tempt the Bundesliga champions.

Lewandowski is expected to be back for pre-season training on Tuesday. He either needs to swallow his pride and show up, or face sanctions if he goes on strike. If he goes AWOL, he may be able to force the club's hand into selling him, but that will damage his reputation as well as his relationship with the club where he has enjoyed tremendous success.

Barcelona now need to act fast by presenting their latest bid. Various media outlets had previously claimed that Bayern flat out rejected Barcelona's offers of €30m and €32m. They most recently came back with a €40m offer plus €10m in variables, which was not enough to make Bayern flinch.

According to Sport, Barcelona are now preparing to make a €50m offer, which the player's agent believes to be enough to make Bayern Munich pay attention.

However, these reports are raising eyebrows in the football world, especially among critics of Barcelona's spending habits. They have been desperately trying to crawl out of their massive debt, giving up Lionel Messi along the way. Now, they are about to splash the cash on a 34-year-old who only has a year left in his contract with his current club. Granted, Lewandowski was the top scorer in Europe last season, but it remains to be seen if Barcelona's gamble will pay off if they do manage to get the deal done.