Current deal: £25 million/year
Whilst there are plenty of reasons why the fans aren’t big fans of the current owners, perhaps one good thing to come out of FSG’s ownership of the Reds has to be their bumper kit deal. The American sports firm Warrior agreed to pay £25 million each year for the privilege of being their kit sponsors. Whilst considering the fact that they provide kits for just three other European teams, it surely is a pretty huge deal indeed.
4. Barcelona – Nike
Current deal value: £27 million/year
One of Europe’s most successful clubs in the recent past, has to make do with fourth place on the list, when you would have expected them to be higher up. However, they still pocket more than twice of what City (another Nike sponsored team) do. And £27m each year is still an awful lot of money.
3. Chelsea – Adidas
Current deal: £30 million/year
Sitting pretty in third place is Chelsea, after recently signing a humongous ten-year deal worth £300m with German giants Adidas. Until Arsenal’s new deal, this was the most expensive kit deal currently in place in the Premier League. Even if they were bundled off top spot, they still pocket a tidy £30 million every year, which is not bad at all.
2. Arsenal – Puma
Current deal: £30m/year
With their brand new record-breaking deal with Puma, Arsenal jump to second on the list. And given the fact that their current deal is just for five years, it would mean that they might well renegotiate a better deal by the time the current Chelsea deal expires.
1. Real Madrid – Adidas
Current deal: £31m/year
Clinching top spot, not by much, but by just enough is Real Madrid, who take home a smidgen over £31 million each year from Adidas until 2020. With the world’s most marketable player in their ranks, it should come as little surprise that they are top dogs, when it comes to kit deals. But, their reign as No.1 will be over next year when United’s new Nike deal kicks in, but until then it is the Galacticos, who leading the pack, in yet another list.