REX Features
Bayern Munich president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said Tuesday he is sure Poland striker Robert Lewandowski will join the club in 12 months time.
Bayern have been trying to prise the 24-year-old from their main Bundesliga rivals Borussia Dormund in the current off season but have so far been thwarted by the 1997 European champions' determination not to lose their star striker to their fiercest competition.
"I am absolutely optimistic that the player will be transferred to Bayern Munich next year," Rummenigge said from the German and European champions' pre-season training camp in Riva Del Garda in northern Italy.
Lewandowski has made clear his desire to join Bayern but Dortmund are loath to lose a player who was crucial in their back-to-back title successes in 2011 and 2012 to the side that have just deposed them.
Last month Dortmund president Hans-Joachim Watzke ruled out any chance of a deal being done this summer.
"Robert will definitely play for Borussia Dortmund next season. We need some clarity in our planning," he told Munich's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.
Dortmund's refusal to sell Lewandowski this year will cost them heavily as he is believed to be able to command a fee of around 25 million euros ($32 million).
But having already lost talented playmaker Mario Goetze to Bayern after the 21-year-old's 37-million-euro release clause was triggered, Dortmund refuse to be further weakened by their closest rivals.
"Our plan is not to play football in the shadow of Bayern Munich, we want to be stronger than last season," coach Jurgen Klopp insisted last week.
Losing out on money is one thing but more painful to Dortmund will be losing out on the 46 goals Lewandowski plundered in the league in the past two seasons.
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