Sportswear giant Nike are set to scale back on boot deals for players, with industry insiders believing the move is due to having to spend more on club kit deals.
Contracts with the top clubs in world football have become increasingly lucrative business, with Nike believed to be keen to add Liverpool to their portfolio in a Premier League record deal.
As a result, some individual players could see their boot deals cut back – despite recent reports the brand are looking to make Raheem Sterling the face of Air Jordan’s branch into football boots in a £100million deal.
Their new approach is banking on the fact their boots, sportswear and training kit remains extremely popular in the market, with a belief players will want to stick with the brand even if the money being offered is less lucrative.
According to reports, Liverpool have been offered the third highest kit deal in history, and the biggest in Premier League history, worth more than the £74million a year rivals Manchester United currently earn from Adidas each year.
They have already signed a remarkable 15-year contract with Chelsea, taking over their kit deal from Adidas, worth around £60million a year.
Tottenham take home around half of that amount in their Nike deal.
It now appears those increasingly competitive kit deals with clubs could come at a cost to some players, who will see their individual deals scaled back.
Details of Cristiano Ronaldo’s personal contract with Nike were recently leaked by Der Spiegel from the latest installment of Football Leaks.
The Portuguese superstar is said to earn at least £145million over the course of his 10-year deal with the sportswear giants.
Sterling is also pondering a huge deal of his own which would see him involved as the face of Air Jordan as the company branch into football.
mirror.co.uk
