What does the new Nike deal mean for Liverpool’s future?

Liverpool are on the brink of signing a major new kit supplier deal with Nike. Here are all the details and what this means for the club.

On October 6th 2010, John Henry puffed on a cigar, adjusted the glasses on his nose and scribbled his signature on to a piece of paper. Around Anfield and around the boardroom there were sighs of relief. Liverpool fans loosened their ties and for the first time in months breathed easily.

Liverpool Football Club had been saved. They had avoided administration and the despicable tenure of Hicks and Gillet had finally come to a bitter end.

Over nine years on, Fensway Sports Group has taken Liverpool a long way. The club have gone from facing potential relegation to the pinnacle of European football securing their sixth Champions League title.

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Now the Reds stand on the brink of another step in their metamorphosis. Liverpool are set to depart their current kit supplier in New Balance and switch over to the giants of the industry Nike Inc. in a deal set to be worth around 70 million pounds.

New Balance have often disappointed with their designs and failed to reach the global marketing appropriate for Liverpool’s brand so the new deal with Nike will come as music to Liverpool fans’ ears.

Nike could herald an unprecedented era of dominance at Anfield. With the marketing potential of Nike, the American company could open up a plethora of new sources of revenue and boost Jurgen Klopp’s transfer kitty for the upcoming seasons.

More importantly, the Nike deal will mean an expansion of Liverpool’s brand worldwide, a major failure of New Balance.

The Reds already have a large following but Nike’s name has the potential to spread the club’s name across continents where Liverpool perhaps are not the biggest name in world football such as South America and Asia in order to parallel the popularity of Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Nike have already promised names such as Drake, Lebron James (A Liverpool shareholder) and Serena Williams to help promote the kit. They will also be able to manufacture and sell more Liverpool shirts worldwide than New Balance who often fell short of their quotas. This could bring an enormous profit to the Reds.

It will also mean more lucrative signings. Nike’s sponsorship could help Liverpool attract marquee signings in the name of Kylian Mbappe or Jadon Sancho. Nike asserts incredible focus on individual athletes and value both Sancho and Mbappe as major assets. With their faces, they could promote more kits and help spread the Liverpool brand.

But not only could Liverpool potentially see more marquee signings they will also likely secure more players from Asia. For example, Son Heung-Min was used as a major face of Tottenham’s marketing in Asia after Nike secured a deal with the London club in 2018.

Liverpool could see the same sort of investment in Asian players in the upcoming years. A name who has been linked with the club is Red Bull Salzburg’s Takumi Minamino who is one of the most promising football talents in Japan’s national side at the moment and impressed with a well struck goal during his outing at Anfield earlier this season.

With Nike’s deal a move for Minamino may almost be inevitable. But it is not only the Asian market which will be given a boost. Nike will open up South American revenues too and will most certainly use Firmino, Alisson and Fabinho as a major part of the marketing strategy.

Nike may also help secure up and coming samba stars from the continent such as Reinier or Talles Magno, the former is someone who Liverpool have kept a close eye on before.

Nike has recently improved on the quality of their kits and their designs which will also bring new innovative kits. Nike’s alternate kits for this year for the likes of Roma and Barcelona has a cool authentic vintage feel and it is a possibility Liverpool with its rich history will get a similar design next season which will surely excite fans all over the world.

Nike’s kits will give a breath of fresh air to the often disappointing New Balance designs which lacked innovation. The deal could be on par with Bill Shankly altering Liverpool’s kits to an all-red strip when he took charge of the club in order to make his players ‘look the part’ and play ‘like giants’ during the first dawn era of the club.

It is another major step in Liverpool’s rise to the top and signifier as to how far FSG have taken the club since their takeover over nine years ago and more proof of their ambition.

One thing is for sure. Liverpool are heading in the right direction and the days of Hicks and Gillet now seem like a distant fictitious nightmare.