Liverpool 1 adidas 0

The new Warrior Liverpool home shirt could look like this.....

American sports group Warrior Sports – owner of New Balance – have recently created the largest kit deal in the world with Liverpool FC worth some US$40m a year, beating Manchester United’s Nike deal.

No coincidence that Warrior also have a kit deal with Boston Red Sox baseball team, owned by the same people who own Liverpool, showing the benefits of globally aware foreign investors.

The fact that there are no Warrior stores anywhere but the US appears not have to dimmed the appeal.

The surprising aspect of the deal was how adidas completely misunderstood Liverpool’s appeal and tried to bid half as much as Warrior did. They put it down to last season’s form but they missed the point of the legendary Liverpool brand’s power overseas regardless of form in one season.

A great example of this is the Standard Chartered sponsorship of Liverpool which is solely aimed at the Asian and Middle East markets where Standard Chartered either dominate such as India or have a notable presence amongst certain expat/affluent target audiences. The whole sponsorship is not aimed at the UK, an amazing decision but one that adidas should have considered before

Liverpool's Asian popularity is immense...even if they picked the wrong player to idolise and by the looks of it the wrong photo too.....

passing on the deal.

Sales of the Liverpool’s replica shirts are claimed to reach nearly 900,000 a year, making it the fourth-highest selling kit in the world behind Manchester United, Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Liverpool have also recently partnered with car-battery manufacturer 3K Battery as part of its strategy to grow its brand in Thailand, another wise move to capture market share from Manchester United who are doing a Far East your this year as are Arsenal.

The partnership will see the club work alongside 3K Battery to raise its profile and engage with Liverpool supporters in Thailand which will be mutually beneficial and raise both brand awareness and sales for the battery brand.

They have also partnered with Turkish Tourism following the end of their relationship with Spanish Tourism.