Kop’s glory costs £10m in bonuses
LIvERPOOL face paying out over £10million in bonus payments to their players and rival clubs as a result of their first title in 30 years.
In addition to the existence of a £4m players’ pool to be shared out among the squad, as revealed by
Sportsmail in February, many players are also due individual bonuses agreed when signing their most recent contract. Liverpool must also pay transfer add-ons to several clubs including Arsenal, Southampton and Charlton.
Liverpool’s individual player bonuses are far more lucrative than the players’ pool, which works out at around £150,000 per man, with recent signings set to bank between £ 500,000 and £750,000.
virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Alisson, Naby Keita and Alex OxladeChamberlain in particular will cash in as they arrived at Anfield on big wages at a time when the prospect of winning major trophies under Jurgen Klopp was becoming more realistic.
Liverpool must also shell out to domestic rivals as a result of a successful recruitment strategy that has transformed them from Champions League qualifying regulars to the dominant side in the country. Many recent transfers included bonus payments connected to Liverpool being crowned champions.
Southampton will profit the most. They are due a significant seven-figure sum, as high as £3m, for the transfers that saw van Dijk, Sadio Mane, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren move to Anfield.
Arsenal are also due a windfall as part of the deal that saw OxladeChamberlain join Liverpool in August 2017. Championship clubs Hull and Charlton are also in line for payments as part of the transfers that took Andrew Robertson and Joe Gomez to Merseyside, respectively. Such clauses are often included by the selling club in hope of maximising the departing player’s worth if he is successful at his new club.
Liverpool’s commercial gains from winning the title are expected to be greater than their bonus liabilities, however, despite the contraction in the market caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Main sponsors Standard Chartered and kit suppliers New Balance will both pay Liverpool a substantial bonus, while the club’s new kit deal with Nike which begins next month is predicted to become the most lucrative in footballing history.
In addition to a payment of £30m a season, Nike are also obliged to pay Liverpool 20 per cent of the revenue from all kit sales. The sportswear giant must have at least 6,000 outlets selling Liverpool merchandise, in addition to their vast online operation, so are expecting bumper sales on the back of this title win.