Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar Jr. and leading sports brand Nike have decided to end their relations after a 15-year. The ‘break-up’ was announced by Nike recently. Rumor has it that rival brand Puma has offered a better new deal with the Brazilian footballer.
“Neymar Jr will no longer be a Nike player as of August 31, 2020,” read a statement by Nike, which was reportedly sent to news agency Efe.
However, the precise reason behind the early end of the contract has not been exposed.
Neymar’s contract with Nike was signed in 2011. It is believed to be valid until 2022 but it has come to an early end.
Nike had supposedly offered the number 10 new values for the re-negotiation of his contract but Neymar has rejected all offers. It is believed that Nike had previously been paying Neymar around 40 million euros per season. It is unclear if the negotiations mentioned were for a contract renewal or a possible pay cut due to the current financial climate caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Puma will be breaking out huge cash if they had tempted Neymar to drop his former sponsors. Neither Neymar nor Puma have made any official announcements relating to the rumors.
But such a big name won’t be deprived of a big sponsor for very long. Whether it is Puma or not, one of the other sports brands will surely be inquiring. The question arises, how abundant cash can these brands afford to pay right now?
Sportwear brand Puma has been getting more involved in football in recent years, taking more and more of a market share that has been dominated by Nike and Adidas. Some of Puma’s partners are Manchester City, AC Milan, Luis Suarez, Sergio Aguero, Cesc Fabregas and Marco Reus.
