After plenty of talk about it over the past few months – as well as a bitter court case with New Balance to boot – Liverpool have now finally confirmed that Nike will be their new kit supplier from the start of next season on a multi-year contract.
It provides a big boost for the Reds, and puts them on the map financially in terms of the rest of the Premier League superpowers. This new deal could see them earn up to £70m a year, which would be the second most in the whole of the top tier, above the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal. It is clearly an improvement on the £40m they received every 12 months from their previous deal and it is the latest in a series of announcements that show just how big the plans are for the north-west outfit – in August of this year, the club confirmed they intend to extend Anfield’s capacity to 60,000.
Surprisingly, though, despite the size of this new deal, it is not the biggest in English football’s top tier. That prize actually falls to Manchester United. From their deal with Adidas, they earn no less than £75m per year, which is a truly astronomical amount of money.
The big fat Liverpool quiz of 2019 – how much do you remember about the last year at Anfield?
United still lead the way in a number of off-the-field aspects, as well. They have the highest capacity in the league, whilst Forbes listed them as the third most-valuable football club in the world in 2019 behind Spanish duo Real Madrid and Barcelona. The Reds are actually the fifth Premier League side on the list, but Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and themselves are all within $500m (£379m) of each other – to me and you, that is a considerable amount of money, but not so much for top football clubs, and this Nike announcement should see Liverpool climb up the rankings. United, though, are worth at least $1 billion (£758m) more than any of their domestic rivals.
On the pitch, Liverpool are streets ahead of the Red Devils right now – they are already 27 points ahead in this year’s league campaign – but off it, it is a different story. Although the Nike deal represents a huge boost for the Reds, they are still overshadowed by United. It just goes to show that on-field success alone is not what makes a superclub.
In other news, Liverpool fans react to their link with this 23-year-old.
