Robert Lewandowski Revealed Details Of His Missed Move To Blackburn Rovers

Not everyone's cancelled flight ends up being a sliding doors moment, but that was certainly the case for Robert Lewandowski in 2010, when he nearly moved to the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers.

Lewandowski looks set to move on from Bayern Munich this summer, after joining them in 2014 and become one of the best forwards in the world.

However, the Polish striker may never have made it to Bayern in the first place if things had been different at the start of 2010, when he was supposed to move to England.

The eruption of the Icelandic volcano Grimsvotn really prevented the then Lech Poznan player from flying and checking out the facilities in Lancashire.

Lewandowski won the title with Dortmund. Image: Alamy

Sam Allardyce had been to see the striker, in order to convince him to make the move but an inability to get over to see the facilities ended the chances of Rovers getting the then 21-year-old.

"I had the opportunity to join Blackburn, but I wanted to see how Blackburn looked, the training ground, the place I met with Sam Allardyce," the striker revealed last year.

"It was in Poland after a game. I thought he was a good guy, a very good coach.

"He was prepared to take a young player who was something new and might be something special.

"He wanted to come to Poland to see me. That was nice."

Lewandowski (far right) with Jurgen Klopp (second from the left) and other new signings at Borussia Dortmund. Image: Alamy

Lewandowski continued: "There were a lot of offers to think about when I was leaving Poznan. I wanted to know if I went there, 'What would I get? What would I learn?'

"I think it would have been fine if I had gone to Blackburn, but I would have liked to go and see the training centre, the stadium. I couldn't go because of the cloud. It was the volcano. The volcano with the ash cloud.

"It was one week and nobody could fly in Europe. The flight was booked, but we couldn't leave. It changed my life. If I had gone to Blackburn maybe I would have stayed there."

Lewandowski looks to have waved goodbye to Bayern. Image: Alamy

Instead of heading to England, the Poznan forward instead headed for Germany once the season was over, moving to Borussia Dortmund for around £5 million.

There he scored 103 goals in 187 games for the Bundesliga club, winning the league twice and helping the club reach a Champions League final, losing to Bayern.

There was a second chance for him to move to the Premier League in 2012, when Sir Alex Ferguson wanted him but decided instead to sign Robin van Persie.

Lewandowski incredible time at Dortmund earned him a move to their rivals Bayern in 2014 and he's gone on to score 344 times in 375 appearances, be screwed out of a Ballon d'Or he should have won and break many records.

How different things might have been if it wasn't for an ash cloud in Iceland...

Topics: Sam Allardyce, Robert Lewandowski, Blackburn Rovers, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bundesliga, Premier League, Transfers

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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