Robert Lewandowski has told FourFourTwo how Jurgen Klopp frustrated him during his early days at Borussia Dortmund.
The Bayern Munich goal machine is currently one of European football’s hottest strikers, scoring five goals against Wolfsburg in the space of just eight minutes and 59 seconds as part of a purple patch that saw him hit the net 16 times in nine games for club and country, sealing Poland’s place at Euro 2016.
I wanted to take the next step - but suddenly I was playing in a No.10 role. I was quite mad because I wanted to play up front
However, it wasn’t always so easy in front of goal for the 27-year-old. Having top-scored in his homeland to help Lech Poznan lift the 2009/10 Ekstraklasa title, Lewandowski secured a €4.5 million move to the Bundesliga, where Dortmund coach Klopp proceeded to play him out of position.
The striker scored eight times in 33 league appearances in 2010/11; leading onlookers to question how he had become Poland's premier goal-getter.
Part of the reason might have been because Klopp, now in charge of Liverpool, opted to deploy the Pole in the hole behind Paraguayan forward Lucas Barrios, who bagged twice as many league goals as Lewandowski that season.
Yet Lewandowski has told FFT that, although he was not happy about it at the time, operating in the No.10 role helped him become a more rounded player.
It was only in the following year that I realised how much I had learned while playing in that position
Speaking exclusively in the December 2015 issue of FourFourTwo, he says: “Borussia first expressed an interest after my first year in Poznan. When I left after the second season, I wanted to take the next step - but suddenly I was playing in a No.10 role. I was quite mad because I wanted to play up front.
It was only in the following year that I realised how much I had learned in that position. I told myself: ‘You have become a better player.’ Then I realised why the coach had asked me to play as a No.10; he made me a more complete player.”
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Read the full cover feature with Robert Lewandowski in the December 2015 issue of FourFourTwo magazine, available in print, on iPad and iPhone now, which also delves into the stories behind other iconic No.9s in football history, from Dixie Dean and Alfredo Di Stefano to Gabriel Batistuta and Ronaldo. We also sit down for a One-on-One chat with former Bolton striker Kevin Davies, while Watford strike pair Troy Deeney and Odion Ighalo tell us about their peculiar paths to the Premier League. We pay tribute to the weird and wonderful world of programmes, find out why RB Leipzig are the ‘world’s most hated club’ and hear from overseas journalists on what it's like to cover English football focusing only on one player.
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Gregg Davies is the Chief Sub Editor of FourFourTwo magazine, joining the team in January 2008 and spending seven years working on the website. He supports non-league behemoths Hereford and commentates on Bulls matches for Radio Hereford FC. His passions include chocolate hobnobs and attempting to shoehorn Ronnie Radford into any office conversation.
