Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski examines the transfer moves made by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi

As the subject of transfer rumors in 2018 — and once again here in 2022 — Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski has no doubt pondered what life might be like after a move.

When looking for other stars to compare himself to, Lewandowski had good examples to examine in Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Paris Saint-Germain’s Lionel Messi.

“For Messi, changing clubs was certainly a much more overwhelming experience. He has never played in a country other than Spain, never spoken another language. He encountered a communication barrier,” Lewandowski told PilkaNozna (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “Cristiano has changed clubs and leagues several times before. The age at which you change teams is not important, different circumstances are decisive.”

With both stars still extremely threatening when on the pitch, Lewandowski — like everyone else — has heard the noise about both all-time great players starting to slow down. Lewandowski, though, does not not think either player’s production will suffer all that much.

“Cristiano is three-and-a-half years older than me and still scores a lot. But he changed the club, changed tactics, his team is not always successful. When his team regains balance, he can start scoring goals again. He used to have great numbers, impossible numbers, today they are ‘just’ very good numbers. He’s probably not going to score 60 goals in a year anymore, but 30 and 40 are still making a difference,” Lewandowski said. “The expectations of him are quite different. And Messi is a different type of player. It will be harder for him at the age of Cristiano to stay at his goal scoring level.”