Bayern Munich finance director Jan-Christian Dreesen has rejected a recent report in France Football revealing Robert Lewandowski's salary, labelling it "blatant nonsense."
The French magazine claimed Lewandowski is the highest-paid Bundesliga player and earns €20.2 million per year in salary, bonuses and sponsorship revenue after joining Bayern on a free transfer from Borussia Dortmund in the summer.
Despite the German paper reducing the published number by €1.2m to €19m, Dreesen told Sport Bild: "I think this number is astonishing. It defies any explanation how someone can come up with such a number. The number's just wrong, blatant nonsense."
Dreesen, 47, admitted that it's "not unusual to pay a signing fee" for a free player, but claimed that "even with the signing fee you will significantly stay under this sum."
While it is common in other leagues to shown salaries, the Bundesliga has always been very strict about not making individual earnings public.
However, a recent court case over unpaid mandatory church taxes during Luca Toni's time at Bayern Munich laid open the Verona attacker's salary at Munich. The former Italy international earned some €14.5m per season between 2007 and early 2010.
The Italian later claimed to know that there are "a few players" at Bayern currently earning more than he did while at Munich some eight years ago.
"I don't know where he got that information from and I can tell you: His statement is not true," Dreesen insisted. Adding that "Luca Toni was on an absolutely extraordinary salary back then" and thus it "remains an absolute exception also in the present situation for us."