Champions League: RB Leipzig v Liverpool, Wednesday, 7.45 Irish time – RTÉ 2 & TNT Sports 1
Liverpool expect to make more than €70 million a year from a new kit deal with Adidas that will come into effect from the start of the 2025-26 season.
The German sports company is to replace Nike as Liverpool’s kit supplier when Nike’s five-year contract expires. Adidas, which last supplied Liverpool’s kit between 2006 and 2012, won a tender process for a five-year contract against Nike and Puma.
The club believe it will bring their kit earnings into line with Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea, who all receive about €75 million from deals with Adidas, Puma and Nike respectively.
Liverpool receive €36 million a year from Nike as a guaranteed base figure. With commercial tie-ins, performance-related bonuses and 20 per cent 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 €70 million a season.
The Premier League record is the €108 million a season that Manchester United receive from Adidas.
Meanwhile, Arne Slot 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 start of a campaign. Slot’s side will achieve both should they maintain their 100 per cent start in the Champions League with victory over Leipzig, when Diogo Jota will be absent with a rib injury suffered against Chelsea on Sunday.
Liverpool’s head coach has no complaints over results, the Nottingham Forest defeat notwithstanding, but insists there is more to come from his team in terms of dominating with the ball and against high-calibre opposition.
Slot said: “You cannot ask for much more with results but there is always room for improvement. 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 be in attendance at Wednesday’s game as he continues to enjoy a well-earned holiday. Liverpool midfielder and former Leipzig player Dominik Szoboszlai said: “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 long-term injuries Alisson and Harvey Elliott against Leipzig, who have made a fine start to their Bundesliga campaign but were beaten by Juventus and Atlético Madrid in their opening Champions League fixtures. – Guardian
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