Four MLS Clubs Most Likely to Sign Robert Lewandowski

The 2025–26 European season might still be a ways off its crowning moment, but star striker Robert Lewandowski looks unlikely to return to Barcelona and has “very concrete” options in MLS, according to Sky Sport Germany’s Florian Plettenberg.

The 37-year-old Polish striker has long been connected to an MLS move and that shift could come as soon as this winter, if not in the summer transfer window after his contract with the defending Spanish champions expires.

With 621 goals in 846 professional games, most notably with Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich and Barcelona, Lewandowski would be a superstar signing for any MLS team in need of goals.

Here, Sports Illustrated dives into three teams—and a wildcard option—that could contend for the superstar No. 9.

Wild Card - Vancouver Whitecaps

Thomas Muller — Thomas Müller hopes to lead Vancouver Whitecaps FC to more silverware in 2026. | Sam Hodde/Getty Images

The 2025 MLS Cup finalists, the Vancouver Whitecaps have a starting striker in 29-year-old USMNT forward Brian White. However, they have shown an intent on winning and could attract a player like Lewandowski to extend their scoring depth, while reuniting him with longtime Bayern teammate Thomas Müller.

3. Sporting Kansas City

It wasn’t too long ago that Sporting Kansas City made an enormous offer to Cristiano Ronaldo, before he signed with Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr in 2022. Since then, they have fallen off, failing to qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs in two of the last three seasons and finishing last in the Western Conference in 2025.

The club split with 12 players in the offseason and parted ways with longtime manager Peter Vermes midway through the 2025 campaign. Those changes leave a relatively blank slate for new manager Raphaël Wicky and new sporting director David Lee, who helped build New York City FC's 2021 MLS Cup-winning squad.

Not only did those shifts happen among soccer-related personnel, but the most significant happened in the owner’s box, with Peter Mallouk purchasing a controlling share of the club from the Illig family for $700 million. Upon that purchase, he stressed that he would do “whatever it takes” to get Sporting KC back to elite status with MLS and that he would make a “big financial commitment.”

What better way to start a new era than with a superstar DP striker? Lewandowski may not be Ronaldo, but Sporting have a DP spot open and could run a two-striker system with Dejan Joveljić, acquired last winter from the LA Galaxy.

2. LAFC

LAFC’s attack is at a fluid point. It’s built around Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-min, two players who thrive in quick transitions and generally have been more impressive in wide areas throughout their careers.

In the tail-end of the 2025 season, the duo found success drifting further inwards and often playing in a near two-striker system, while making runs off each other to spread width on the pitch. If LAFC were to introduce a new key striker to the mix, could Bouanga and Son be as potent as their combined 36 goals in 2025?

In some ways, LAFC might be even better if a proven striker were to center their two current DPs, but rocking the roster in the first season under manager Marc Dos Santos could be a risky move.

While Lewandowski is still mobile and quick at his age, there would also be concerns from the club about signing another aging European striker after Olivier Giroud struggled to adapt to LAFC and MLS. The Frenchman scored just scoring just three goals in 21 career games, making him one of the most underwhelming DPs in league history.

There are a few doubts that a striker between Son and Bouanga would do well, but the biggest question for the California side will be whether his style of play fits into MLS as the league enters its fourth decade.

1. Chicago Fire FC

The Chicago Fire have long been linked to Lewandowski through Polish connections. According to the 2023 Census, 721,538 people in the Chicago metropolitan area have Polish ancestry, and many still speak the language, making one of the country’s greatest ever athletes a surefire success off the pitch for the Fire.

The Fire also have Lewandowski on their Discovery List, making the city the most likely destination for the standout attacker. Previously, reports indicated that Lewandowski would not oppose a move and that wages would not be an issue.

For the club, the reasons to make every effort to sign him are clear from a business perspective. He would automatically become the biggest star on the team and push them back into relevancy in one of the busiest sporting markets in the world.

It’s on the pitch, though, where it may not make much sense. Led by manager Gregg Berhalter, the Fire already has an elite striker in 28-year-old Hugo Cuypers, who scored 17 goals in 33 appearances in 2025 and has a contract through to the end of the 2026 season.

If the goal is to win games and make a push for MLS Cup in 2026 after qualifying for the postseason for the first time since 2017 in 2025, then keeping Cuypers flanked by Philip Zinckernagel and Jonathan Bamba—and using the open Designated Player spot to acquire a midfielder or another position of need—would make the team stronger.

While it’s challenging to see just how much better Chicago could be if they were to swap one striker out for another, it might be impossible to turn down one of the greatest goalscorers in a generation should the opportunity arise.

Four MLS Clubs Most Likely to Sign Robert Lewandowski—Ranked

Wild Card - Vancouver Whitecaps

3. Sporting Kansas City

2. LAFC

1. Chicago Fire FC

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