Potential Adidas financial penalty points to wider concern for Manchester United
Manchester United would face a financial penalty from kit suppliers Adidas if they fail to make the UEFA Champions League this season.
Having endured a tough start to the Premier League season, and with boss Erik ten Hag under mounting pressure following a 3-0 humbling at home to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, It has taken a matter of weeks for the positivity that had surrounded Old Trafford at the start of the campaign to dissipate.
United sit 12th in the Premier League, and on the evidence thus far they face a real battle to make the Champions League next season. Missing out would not only deny the club lucrative sums of cash that come with competing in European football’s elite knockout club competition, but also suffer a penalty from Adidas, the club’s kit manufacturers.
According to the Times, United would be landed with a £10m penalty on their lucrative Adidas deal should they fail to make the Champions League next season, with the penalty invoked if the club misses out on the competition for two seasons running.
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Last year United finished eighth, 31 points off the title pace, but did manage to book qualification for this year’s Europa League by virtue of winning the FA Cup in May, when they beat neighbours Manchester City 2-1 at Wembley.
But the revenues from the Europa League, and the exposure that it brings for the big brands that pay good money to be associated with, according to data from US sports business website Sportico, the most valuable football club in the world, is nowhere near what is on offer with qualification for the Champions League, and failure to do so will hurt United in the pocket with