Bayern Munich boss Carlo Ancelotti told reporters despite a transfer rumor swarm around striker Robert Lewandowski, he’s not at all unhappy with the Polish frontman.
He is, however, unhappy with someone else: Lewandowski’s agent.
Ancelotti criticized Lewandowski’s representatives for “talking too much” which he says sparked the transfer rumor circus.
“Lewandowski has never complained to me, I finally congratulated him on his good season,” Ancelotti said on Saturday. “I was satisfied with him and he was pleased with us. As always there are agents who talk too much - I do not know why. It is not the first time an agent has used the newspapers to say something wrong, that’s all. In a perfect world, agents do not talk.”
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Ancelotti was likely referring directly to Lewandowski’s agent Maik Barthel, who spoke to German paper Kicker and was quoted as saying that Lewandowski was “disappointed” not to score more goals last season, and many extrapolated what they wished from those words.
Sure, it’s easy to see why Ancelotti is upset. Transfer rumors create unrest within the squad and the club, and serve to irritate those on the receiving end of incessant questioning. It’s also, however, easy to see why agents chat to journalists and tabloid writers to intentionally stir up chatter, as the talk serves their purpose of leverage against one party or another. The agents are just doing their job, which is earning themselves and their clients more money.
The English papers have had a field day with rumors of a Lewandowski exit to Chelsea, Manchester United, or Arsenal. Reports that Lewandowski is “unhappy” at Bayern have made the rounds, but as the players returned to the Bayern facilities today, Ancelotti did his best to dispel those rumors.