Hello kitty! Arsenal agree £170m kit deal with Puma.. the biggest in English football
New agreement should see Arsene Wenger spend big in the summer with a reported £70m transfer budget
Arsenal have agreed the biggest kit deal in English football with sports giants Puma.
They have struck an agreement worth in excess of £30m-a-year which could see the five year contract worth £170m in total.
The deal worth more than Liverpool’s new £25m-a-year contract with Warrior and brings to an end Arsenal’s 20-year tie-up with Nike.
The deal, which will not be announced officially for some time, will give Arsenal major additional financial clout on top of the £150m five year shirt sponsorship deal with Emirates.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has already been promised £70m to spend on transfer targets this summer as the club looks to rebuild and strengthen the squad.
Fiorentina’s striker Stevan Jovetic tops the list of targets but his price could go above £20m and that would be new territory for Arsenal.
However, the new kit deal will give them confidence that they can spend big.
It will also be a major coup for Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis on top of the Emirates deal and will strengthen his belief that the club are making major strides forward off the pitch which will enable them to compete for the biggest signings.
The new agreement dwarfs the current kit deal with Nike, which is worth £55m over seven years and expires at the end of NEXT season.
American sportswear giant will now concentrate on Manchester United, Barcelona and the England team. They are also due to renegotiate with United shortly as their current 15 year deal worth £287m is due to expire soon.
Nike had an exclusive renegotiation clause with Arsenal which has now expired and they have clearly decided not to renew. Nike declined to comment last night. Arsenal are also bound by a confidentiality agreement.
A source close to Nike said: “Nike were keen to work with Arsenal, keen to keep it going, but not at any price.”
Adidas were in pole position for the Arsenal deal and had even put forward designs but they announced last month that they would not be bidding. Liverpool’s kit makers Warrior were also keen.
But Puma are understood to have blown the opposition away in negotiations with Arsenal who were driving a hard bargain.
Puma were Tottenham’s kit makers before Under Armour and are clearly hoping that a tie-up with Arsenal will put them back as major players in the football market.
Furthermore, Puma have strong links with the African market and that is an area where they believe Arsenal are particularly strong and have even bigger potential.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/arsenal-agree-puma-kit-deal-1874661
