English giants Liverpool seek to close a new club-record shirt sponsorship deal in the next six months, Tariq Panja reports for Bloomberg. Liverpool are currently on a deal with London-based bank Standard Chartered, worth 20 million pounds a year and running until the end of the 2015-16 season.
The club hopes to improve the annual shirt sponsorship sum to 30 million pounds, which would make it the tied second highest Premier League main sponsor deal together with Arsenal, who receive the same sum from Emirates. Manchester United receive £47m / year from Chevrolet, while Chelsea's possible new sponsor deal with Turkish Airlines is 'only' expected to be worth 25 million per year.
Liverpool negotiate with Standard Chartered and possible new sponsors
Liverpool are looking to sign a new main sponsor deal within six months and are already holding talks with several firms.
"We are engaged in ongoing conversations with Standard Chartered regarding extending the partnership and continually delivering excellent commercial and community value," Liverpool said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg.
Standard Chartered is interested to continue as Liverpool's main sponsor, but only "if the price is right". Liverpool therefore already started to contact other potential partners, including Japanese Nomura Holdings, also operating in the financial sector.
Top Football Sponsorship Deals
| Manchester United | Chevrolet | £47m |
| Arsenal | Emirates | £30m |
| FC Barcelona | Qatar Airways | £30m |
| Real Madrid | Emirates | £25m |
| Bayern Munich | Deutsche Telekom | £23.6m |
| Liverpool | Standard Chartered | £20m |
Liverpool kits, including the leaked Liverpool 15-16 kits, are made by Warrior Sports / New Balance, on a contract which runs until 2016 and is worth 25 million pounds / year, which makes it the fourth highest in the league behind Manchester United (with adidas from 2015), Arsenal and Chelsea.
Liverpool's recent title drought, as well as losing two of its biggest stars in Luis Suárez and Steven Gerrard might decrease the chances to meet the aspired 30m deal, but an improvement is expected to be made nonetheless.