FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta is ready to end sponsorship deal with Nike to accept an offer from Puma, according to the latest reports from Catalonia.
The American sportswear brand has been synonymous with Barcelona for the past two decades, but the Catalans are looking for a better deal. For several months, we have heard that FC Barcelona is not satisfied with Nike, and it seemed recently that Puma was interested in becoming the sponsor of their team.
According to Sport, this is Laporta's intention. While Nike increased its offer compared to the current deal, Puma in turn increased its proposal. Recent reports have claimed that Puma is ready to offer FC Barcelona a contract that includes higher remuneration, but also penalties for underperformance. The German brand is ready to pay a signing bonus of 100 million euros, which would immediately inject liquidity and cover the 40 to 50 million euros needed to terminate the contract with Nike, which is currently running until 2028.
Immediately inject liquidity
In addition, Nike's links with Laporta's rival, Sandro Rosell, who was previously vice-president of Nike Brazil, worked against the American equipment manufacturer. Puma sold the idea that Barcelona would be the crown jewel of its growth plan to dominate the sportswear market. Other board members preferred to stay with Nike for distribution channels, still others preferred to partner with a smaller brand and take a larger share, while others did not want to risk find yourself without a sponsor for a certain period of time if the contract was terminated.
The Blaugrana's difficult financial situation has them and Laporta looking for every possible source of income, and it would not be surprising if they ended up agreeing to a deal that included an advance on the contract to give them more liquidity to short term. This summer, there is already talk of one, or even two, major sales within the squad.
