Barcelona said the fee to acquire Robert Lewandowski could reach $75 million as football’s fallen giant gambles its future on the prolific Poland striker.
The buyout clause for the 33-year-old will be set at $740 million on a mega contract valid for four seasons.
The final agreement comes three days after the clubs announced a preliminary deal for FIFA’s player of the year in 2020 and 2021.
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He arrives to boost a Barcelona team that did not win any titles last season following the departure of Argentina great Lionel Messi.
The club has been slowly rebuilding its squad after enduring financial struggles in recent seasons.
Lewandowski said after joining his new teammates in Florida that he hopes “to put the team back at the top of European football.”
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“It was very easy to decide to come to Barca. Barca is back,” he vowed.
“I like winning trophies and this is a new chapter for me, with new challenges.
“This was an opportunity for me privately. I have always wanted to play in La Liga and for a big team.”
He said he had already been speaking with coach Xavi Hernandez.
“I know about his ideas,” Lewandowski said.
“He was a great player and has a great future ahead of him as a coach.”
Lewandowski scored 312 goals in 384 Bundesliga games for Bayern and previous club Borussia Dortmund.
He hit 35 goals in 34 appearances last season to become the Bundesliga’s leading scorer for the seventh time overall.
Barcelona’s top scorers were Memphis Depay and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with 13 goals each last campaign.
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Barcelona also gets a proven winner.
Lewandowski helped Bayern win the 2020 Champions League, after it humiliated Barcelona 8-2 in the quarterfinals.
He also scooped up 10 Bundesliga titles, four German Cups, and a Club World Cup with the Bavarian powerhouse.
Only the dominance of Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has likely stopped Lewandowski from receiving more individual accolades.
But Lewandowski said in late May that “my story with Bayern Munich is over” after contract extension talks with Bayern broke down.
He had one more season left on his contact with Bayern.
Lewandowski joins a team that relied on Aubameyang and Ferran Torres for its goals after they joined last winter as Depay was injured and lost his starting job as striker.
He will have Spain’s young and gifted midfielders Pedri Gonzalez and Gavi Paez to set him up.
Barcelona is mired in debt mostly due to the huge transfer fees and salaries paid out by its previous president and board.
In order to make signings this summer, president Joan Laporta had to sell 10 per cent of the team’s Spanish league television rights for the next 25 years.
That infusion of cash also helped it secure the transfer of Brazil winger Raphinha and sign Ousmane Dembele to a new contract last week as its hopes to challenge Spanish and European champion Real Madrid in the upcoming season.
The club is clearly betting on winning titles again in the short term.
Last season, Barcelona finished a distant second in Spain to Madrid and failed to advance beyond the Champions League group phase.
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