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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Andy Hunter in Leipzig

Liverpool expect to make more than £60m a year from new Adidas kit deal

Curtis Jones of Liverpool celebrates scoring to make it 2-1 against Chelsea on Sunday.
Liverpool’s deal with Nike runs to the end of this season. Photograph: Paul Currie/Colorsport/Shutterstock

Liverpool expect to make more than £60m a year from a new kit deal with Adidas that will come into effect from the start of the 2025-26 season.

The German sportswear ­company will become Liverpool’s kit ­supplier when Nike’s five-year contract expires. In a tender process for a five‑year contract Adidas, which last ­supplied the Anfield club’s kit between 2006 and 2012, won against Nike and Puma.

The club believe it will bring their kit earnings into line with Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea, who all receive £60m-£65m from deals with Adidas, Puma and Nike respectively.

Liverpool receive £30m a year from Nike as a guaranteed base figure. With commercial tie-ins, ­performance‑related bonuses and 20% royalty payments on net sales of replica sportswear, promoted by people such as the basketball star and Liverpool shareholder ­LeBron James, the total can be closer to £60m a season.

The Premier League record is the £90m a season received by ­Manchester United from Adidas.

Arne Slot, meanwhile, believes Liverpool’s performance level is “not there yet” despite taking them top of the Premier League and in sight of two club records when they visit RB Leipzig on Wednesday.

No Liverpool team in history has won 11 of the opening dozen games of a season or won six away matches in a row from the ­beginning of a campaign. Slot’s players will achieve both should they maintain their 100% start in the Champions League with victory against ­Leipzig, when Diogo Jota will be absent with a rib injury he sustained against ­Chelsea on Sunday.

Liverpool’s head coach has no complaints over results, the Notting­ham Forest defeat last month notwithstanding, but insists there is more to come from his team in terms of dominating with the ball and against high-calibre opposition.

“You cannot ask for much more with results but there is always room for improvement,” Slot said.

“I don’t think we outplayed Chelsea. We certainly did not. I think they were more dominant than us with the ball. In an ideal world I would have seen us dominate the complete game. We are not there yet. The good thing is, if we face a team like Chelsea and United, you see a team fighting for every centimetre or every moment that can be decisive in the game.

“I am hoping in the future, hopefully the near future, we will play a game like Milan or [Manchester] United and become more dominant than we were against Chelsea.

“Maybe that says a lot more about Chelsea. A lot of people in England made fun of them in the summer about investing so much money. In my opinion, they have done so well to bring many talented ­players in. With such a strong squad and mana­ger, they will be up there in the ­coming years. That’s my opinion, let’s see if I’m right.”

Jürgen Klopp, Red Bull’s ­incoming head of global soccer, will not attend the game on Wednesday as he continues to enjoy a holiday. The Liverpool midfielder and former Leipzig player Dominik Szoboszlai said of Klopp: “It’s dif­ferent job to a coach but I am happy he is back. He is such a name in ­football that you don’t want to ­forget about him and it is good he stays in football.”

Liverpool will also be without Conor Bradley, Federico Chiesa and the long-term injury absentees ­Alisson and Harvey Elliott against Leipzig, who have made a fine start in the Bundesliga but were beaten by Juventus and Atlético Madrid in their opening Champions League fixtures.

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