[PeeJay]

DISCLAIMER: This thread is not about the eventuality
of Kakà moving to United, which is why it is in Football Banter, rather than
Transfer Talk. It is about the power of technical sponsors.

Reports in Spanish publication Marca claim that any future transfer move for Brazilian midfielder Kaka could depend on an agreement with his personal sponsors Adidas. The German sportswear brand, who also have a deal in place with the player’s current club AC Milan and possible suitors Real Madrid, appear happy for a deal to take place between the two European giants but are thought to be less enthused about the 25-year-old linking up with sides who have kit deals with alternative sportswear companies. Manchester United, who have a lucrative shirt deal with American brand Nike, are thought to be eyeing Kaka as a possible replacement for Ronaldo should their Portuguese star leave Old Trafford, however, it appears Adidas could prove a further obstacle should Sir Alex Ferguson’s follow through with his ambitious

We all know that Kakà is as likely as Stevie G to come to United and
that Kakà is not a transfer target.

However, is this the state of modern football? Where your shirt sponsor
indicates your team? Do Nike and Adidas have such power? I've heard
things about Ribery and Ronaldo more likely to be at United than Real
Madrid and Nike's role in all of this. Of course, Adidas are bound to be
happy that Beckham joined AC Milan and may even have proposed it
but had Inter come in with a bid and had Beckham accepted, would
Adidas have had the power to veto it?

 

[Occy]

Legally there is no way a sponsor can stop a player moving clubs. Even if someone took this to court, no judge would ever rule as such.

Any contract that a player has with a sportswear company that enables that company to prevent the player playing for a club sponsored by a competitor is void. One reason is because it would represent a restraint of trade. Another is that it would breach competition law (antitrust) provisions. There are also a number of other potential sources of law that may be breached.

The only thing that a company might be able to do is encourage a player to play for a club that it sponsors by offering 'bonuses' for the player to do as such. The player then has the choice to either forgo the bonus and move, or stay (or join another club with the same sponsor) and receive the bonus.

 

[NoxiousD]

How do we know Kaka is not likely to join United exactly?

Last i checked he turned down City and seems to have grown tired of Milan and their indifferent form...

Stranger things have happened...

 

[Adam]

How do we know Kaka is not likely to join United exactly?

Last i checked he turned down City and seems to have grown tired of Milan and their indifferent form...

Stranger things have happened...

i think he was just making the point clearly that he isn't opening up a chat about whether kaka would come to united, because the title makes people look at it and say "he's moving to unites?" and then start discussing it. he was just trying to nip it in the bud early.

personally, couldn't see it happening, but as noxious says, stranger things have happened.

with regard to the original article, it's crazy that this is the state of play in football now, but i don't think addidas holds any power really were this to happen, other than bonuses as occy mentioned.

 

[Carlo]

TBH even if Adidas didn't threaten to cut his bonuses etc, it wouldn't bother him even in the slightest, surely one of the other big brands would just jump in their place. Not good business, not particularly legal and not very likely at all

 

[Jay007]

TBH even if Adidas didn't threaten to cut his bonuses etc, it wouldn't bother him even in the slightest, surely one of the other big brands would just jump in their place. Not good business, not particularly legal and not very likely at all

Exactly.

Adidas wouldn't have the power to block any transfer involving the player. It would be entirely up to whoever the player was whether he'd want to go or not. I'm sure the sponsor would try to dissuade him from moving, or persuade him to accept another clubs offer if that was the case in whatever way they could (through talks, contract negotiation etc)

Even if they were to cancel the deal because of the transfer, they'd be the ones to lose out and, in Kaka's case at least, plenty of other companies would love to have Kaka.

 

[antdevil78]

saying they would keep a player to please the kit makers is ludicrous. they lose kaka, gain beckham and the money from kaka would mean they could sign another big name eg messi

same would apply to us ronaldo goes to madrid = nike to adidas
we sign a big player and the cycle goes on.

 

[Johnny]

well last summer when ronaldo was in his will i or wont i join real madrid, it was on sky sports news on how nike wanted barca to bid for him to stop em goin to madrid which are adidas sponsered...

 

[shiven]

So does that also rule out Kaka going to Citteh again because they aren't sponsored by Adidas?!:frown:
Damn that's unfortunate..!

Seriously though in your contrat with your main sponsors, there can't possibly be a clause to prevent you from moving to a club who are not on the same sponsorship deal..!
That's just ridiculous, it's all down to the player himself, his agent and an agreement between the 2 clubs involved in the the possible deal.. Anyway i think Kaka has made it clear already that he wants to stay at Milan - like who could turn down a move to Citteh..!

 

[hdcantona]

well this is ridiculous - occ is right - they can't stop him, but they could cancel their sponsorship of him i suppose, and he may have to pay comp to adidas for breach of contract (if he goes to a nike team) but there's no way they could stop him moving

 

[piazza]

I doubt Kaka really cares direly about Adidas' bonus. He turned down like a quarter of a billion to not play for Man Shitty.

 

[Red Devil]

Has anyone asked Kaka if he would like to come - this is all pie in the sky at present. Next month it will be Ronaldo to Real, again.

 

[hdcantona]

Has anyone asked Kaka if he would like to come - this is all pie in the sky at present. Next month it will be Ronaldo to Real, again.

apparently - in the sun - Man United reps have met with Kaka reps - and supposedly a 70 million deal is agreed with him getting 135k a week

 

[NoxiousD]

apparently - in the sun - Man United reps have met with Kaka reps - and supposedly a 70 million deal is agreed with him getting 135k a week

:rtfm:

 

[Red Devil]

The sun eh? Must be true. I best order my shirt full of kaka now. On slightly diff note will he still come when he is going to be taxed at 50% PER WEEK?

 

[PeeJay]

The sun eh? Must be true. I best order my shirt full of kaka now. On slightly diff note will he still come when he is going to be taxed at 50% PER WEEK?

That's actually a very good point.

 

[Lucky7]

I think we've still some money in the bank for transfers and we've got some people to offload at the end of the year!Manucho and Campbell are both going to find it hard making a name for themselves at United now,Both would command £6 or 7 million each!We're not signing Tevez,so that's £30 million there we would be paying if he was coming!You can't expect a club in the current climate to pay the full amount in one go,And can't see his fee being more than £50 million.I don't want to see Ronaldo goto Real or anywhere else,but,Wouldn't mind Berbatov going somewhere and getting back what we paid for him!! We'd make alot of revenue from having both kaka and Ronaldo with advertising and shirt sales!If Real made all that money with Beckham,what would we do with those two,with the new shirts coming out next year too.