Robert Lewandowski has joked that his desire to win silverware was the reason he never decided to join Arsenal during his illustrious career.

The 38-year-old headed to Major League Soccer last summer to join Chicago Fire, bringing the curtain down on an astonishing spell at Europe’s top table with Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and, most recently, Barcelona. He scored 567 times for the three European giants, but his career could have worked out very differently.

Lewandowski was regularly linked with a move to Arsenal over the years, with the striker revealing that the club’s former goalkeeper and his international teammate Wojciech Szczęsny tried to convince him to move to north London.

“I can confirm that Wojciech tried to convince me to join Arsenal,” Lewandowski revealed in 2014. “We had several talks about this. It was him who did most of the talking, how the club looks inside, what Arsène Wenger thinks of me.”

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Lewandowski was never tempted by the prospect of joining the Gunners, however, and a viral clip circulating on social media has now revealed exactly why.

The sharpshooter was asked why he snubbed Arsenal, to which he jokingly replied: “I wanted to win some titles.”

When quickly reminded that Arsenal finally won the Premier League for the first time in 22 years last season, Lewandowski responded: “Maybe you don’t have to wait so long if I joined Arsenal.”

What Could Have Been for Arsenal

It was not only Szczęsny who wanted Lewandowski at the Emirates Stadium. Wenger was keen on signing him before he traded Dortmund for their Klassiker rivals Bayern Munich.

“Yes we looked into Lewandowski, but honestly he signed for Bayern one-and-a-half years ago, everyone knows that,” Wenger confessed in January 2014, shortly after Lewandowski’s move to Bayern was confirmed.

The former Arsenal manager added: “We are like everyone, we look out there and see what is happening. If an opportunity turns up, you know as well that all the big players are at big clubs at the moment and they go for important targets.”

So, what would have happened if Lewandowski had joined Arsenal instead of Bayern?

Well, Arsenal would have entered the 2014–15 season, during which they finished third and won the FA Cup, with one of Europe’s leading strikers in their ranks. Lewandowski scored 25 times in his debut season with Bayern, goals which would have proven very useful for the Gunners.

Arsenal were reliant on Alexis Sánchez, who scored the same number as Lewandowski that term, and Olivier Giroud for the majority of their goals, but perhaps the addition of the Poland international’s relentless output would have thrust them to greater things.

Lewandowski proceeded to score 41+ goals in each of his remaining seven seasons with Bayern. There’s no doubt he would have vastly improved Wenger’s forward line, perhaps even helping end the club’s agonizing wait for Premier League or Champions League glory.

Unfortunately for Arsenal, the titles Lewandowski craved were always likely to be far more forthcoming at Bayern, where he eventually tallied 19 titles—including eight Bundesliga trophies and one Champions League crown.

Catalonia proved similarly fruitful for Lewandowski, who won seven more major trophies with Barcelona following his move in 2022.