Liverpool price themselves out of sponsorship deal say Adidas
Wednesday 18 January 2012
Liverpool have expressed their disappointment after comments from an official at Adidas claimed the club priced themselves out of a new kit deal, Liverpool Echo reports.
The current contract with the Reds’ kit supplier runs out at the end of this season and despite conversations between the two parties, Liverpool have reached an agreement with American brand Warrior Sports instead. The deal is worth £25m a year and doubles the income that Adidas currently give to the Anfield side. Liverpool replica shirt sales are believed to reach nearly 90,000 a year and make them the fourth highest selling kits in the world.
With the end of the six year deal drawing near, Adidas chief executive Herbert Hainer claimed that Liverpool’s on-pitch performance means the club’s valuation of themselves is inflated. Hainer said: ‘The gap between performance on the field and what the number should be is not in balance. Then we said: “Ok, we will not do it”. That’s the end of the story. It all depends on the success and the effort and the popularity, the exposure on TV, renevue you can generate by merchandising.’
Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre has hit back at Hainer’s claims, saying that the Reds ran a fair bidding process and the battle for the contract was won by Warrior Sports. Ayre said: ‘We are disappointed that Adidas seem to point to a lack of European football as reason not to agree a new deal and cannot see that we are on par with the biggest football brands in the world’.
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