Barcelona Pesident Joan Laporta is set on ending their sponsorship agreement with Nike in order to accept an offer from Puma, as per the latest coming out of Catalonia. The American sportswear brand have been synonymous with Barcelona over the past two decades, but the Blaugrana are looking for a better deal.
For a number of months there have been rumblings that Barcelona were unhappy with Nike, and despite initially appearing to leverage interest from Puma in becoming their kit sponsor, they now look closer than ever to leaving Nike.
As per Sport, that is Laporta’s intention. While Nike upped their offer from their current deal, Puma have in turn increased their bid for Barcelona’s business. Recent reports claimed that Puma were willing to give Barcelona a contract that included greater fees, although also penalties for underperformance. Crucially, the German brand are willing to pay a €100m signing bonus, which would provide an immediate cash injection and cover the €40-50m fee to break their contract with Nike, which currently runs until 2028.
🚨 Manchester United have informed Barcelona that they should pay €40m-€60m for Mason Greenwood. For Barça, the winger is not a priority and certainly not for this fee. @gbsans 🏴 pic.twitter.com/OjK7AsDn9M
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 17, 2024
In addition, Nike’s links to political rival Sandro Rosell, who was previously Nike Brazil’s vice-president, have worked against them. Puma have sold the idea that Barcelona will be the jewel in their growth plan to dominate the sportswear market. Others in the board favoured remaining with Nike for their distribution channels, some favoured going with a smaller brand and taking a bigger cut, while others do not want to risk being without a sponsor for any length of time if the contract is broken.
The Blaugrana’s tough financial situation is leading them and Laporta to pursue every last avenue of income that they can, and it would be no surprise if they ended up accepting a deal that front-loaded the contract in order to give them more short-term liquidity. Already this summer there is talk of one if not two major sales being made from the playing squad.
