Gaizka Mendieta said this week that Robert Lewandowski should consider a move to Wrexham this summer and suggested Harry Kane as a possible replacement at Barcelona.
Mendieta put the comment bluntly: "Robert Lewandowski said he is open to taking a step down and if he wants to be an actor after he retires, Wrexham is the place to go!" The former midfielder added that "he's looking for the next step. If he wants to continue playing football, he's obviously got options. I'm not sure about the level of the league or the category."
The timing sharpens the point. Lewandowski, 37, announced on Instagram this weekend that "After four years full of challenges and hard work, it's time to move on." He leaves Barcelona when his contract expires this summer after a four-year stay that yielded 119 goals and three championships; he said he "leave[s] with the feeling that the mission is complete. Four seasons, three championships."
Lewandowski has also publicly signaled he is open to playing at a lower level. "There could be an option in a lower league. I'm almost 38, but I feel good physically, so I'm considering it. I have to take into account the possibility that it's time to play and enjoy life. Perhaps that option will arise, and I'm not ruling it out," he said, words Mendieta seized on when naming Wrexham.
That line of thinking — an elite striker weighing a move to a smaller club or a different league late in his career — matters because Barcelona must now replace a proven scorer. Mendieta did not limit his imagination to lower divisions. "I would love to see Harry Kane at Barcelona, in La Liga. He's a fantastic player who is, again, so unlucky with these trophies. Why not? We saw Robert Lewandowski arrive, nobody thought he would come to Barca, but he did," Mendieta said, pointing at a possible high-end target even as he joked about Wrexham for Lewandowski.
There is immediate numerical weight to the moment: Lewandowski is 37 and "almost 38" by his own reckoning, he has 119 Barcelona goals across four seasons, and his exit comes as the club talks about needing a striker for next season. Mendieta noted Barcelona's finances have improved from "two or three years ago," a detail that feeds directly into whether the club can aim for a top-tier replacement like Kane.
But the story contains friction. Mendieta warned that "I don't think these kinds of players always thrive, especially in the Championship or the Spanish Segunda Division. Very tough leagues for players like him. I think his quality and ability can still provide something. I don't think he will be short of options, so let’s see what happens. But it would be exciting." That undercuts the romantic idea of Lewandowski heading straight to a promoted or second-tier side simply because he wants to step down; Mendieta himself casts doubt on how well a player of Lewandowski's profile would adapt to those competitions.
The broader context is already settled: Lewandowski's departure was expected because his contract is due to expire this summer. Wrexham, meanwhile, are a club often discussed in transfer speculation because they are targeting promotion to the Premier League and have been linked with ambitious moves. On the other side, the 2023 backdrop matters too — Harry Kane was signed by Bayern Munich that year to replace Lewandowski at the Allianz Arena — showing how the striker market can shuffle the same names between big clubs.
The single, sharpened question now is this: with Lewandowski open to stepping down but still declaring he feels physically able, and with Mendieta saying Barcelona's finances are stronger than they were two or three years ago, will Barca try to sign a marquee striker such as Harry Kane, or will they look elsewhere? That choice will define whether Barcelona pursues a headline replacement or opts for a different route after Lewandowski's exit.
