Chelsea have opened talks with potential new main sponsors to replace Yokohama, according to reports.
Yokohama have not yet decided whether to pursue an extension of their deal with the club, which ends after the current 2019-20 season, according to The Athletic.
Although Chelsea held talks with Yokohama during the club's summer tour to Japan, the site states that there's "evidence of communication between the club and one unnamed company". The name of that company is not known to the public yet.
Signed in 2015, the deal between Yokohama and Chelsea is worth a maximum of £40m ($49.1m/€44.5m) per year - this figure includes a number of bonuses related to domestic and international performance as well as shirt sales and pre-season commitments.
Since Chelsea and Yokohama have partnered up, three of the club's direct competitors have signed main sponsor deals of a similar value: Liverpool with Standard Chartered, from 2019-20 to 2022-23, Arsenal with Emirates, from 2019-20 to 2023-24, and Tottenham Hotspur with AIA, from 2019-20 to 2026-27. Manchester United´s Chevrolet deal remains the biggest in the league: signed in 2014-15 and valid until the end 2020-21, it's worth worth £53m per year.
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