Pranav Nair
Manchester United face £25m Adidas sponsorship loss if UCL qualification bid fails
According to the Daily Mail, Manchester United could lose out on £25m from their sponsorship with Adidas if they fail to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
United have a mammoth £75m-a-year deal with the sportswear giants. It is second in the Premier League only to Liverpool’s £80m-a-year contract with Nike.
According to the report, if United fails to qualify for Europe’s premier competition, their windfall will be reduced by 33.33% to £50m.
This will see us fall behind the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester City, all of whom have more lucrative deals.
United had an opportunity to end yesterday in third spot following the setbacks suffered by both Chelsea and Leicester City. We were, however, unable to make it count.
We have drawn level with Leicester though, setting up a potentially mammoth last day clash where the winner would take all. With the Foxes set to face Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur before that, their fate could very well be sealed by then.
United do have a fallback option given their participation in the Europa League. With one foot already in the quarter-finals, we have been handed a favourable draw against either Istanbul Beseksehir of FC Copenhagen.
Victory in the competition will see us qualify for the Champions League, something we did in 2017.
With the coronavirus pandemic affecting football finances, we cannot afford to lose more revenue. Given our form, we should make the top four.
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Losing out on the spot to Chelsea could see the Blues overtake us. This will make them the closest challengers to Liverpool and City at the top of the table. That is likely to undo much of the promise we have shown.
It is imperative for a club of United’s size to return to Europe’s top table. Not being able to do so should be counted as a failure.
