Liverpool set to beat Tottenham and smash £150m barrier in advanced off-pitch talks

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It has been a fallow summer for Liverpool so far, with supporters frustrations exacerbated by the eleventh hour collapse of the bid to sign Martin Zubimendi.

Zubimendi decided against moving to Liverpool from Real Sociedad in a deal that would have been worth over £50m and be the Merseysiders’ first of the window.

A frustrating start to life at Anfield then for new manager Arne Slot, as well as for CEO Michael Edwards who returned this summer two years after leaving his post as Liverpool’s sporting football.

But Liverpool’s philosophy in the transfer market under owners Fenway Sports Group has always been to strike the right deals rather than going after quick fixes.

This approach bleeds into every department at Liverpool, including the commercial department which – in the era of FFP and PSR – determines the budget available to Slot and Edwards.

The Reds’ biggest commercial deals are their kit, front-of-shirt and sleeve partnerships with Nike, Standard Chartered and Expedia, which are worth a combined total of around £110m per season.

Liverpool are expected to switch to Adidas after the coming season, while the other two run until the end of the 2026-27 campaign.

But commercial income in the modern game is not just about the ‘big three’ sponsorships.

FSG are well aware of this – Liverpool’s sponsorship portfolio is the least reliant on kit, front-of-shirt and sleeve deals of any of the so-called Big Six.

To dissect Liverpool’s commercial landscape, how it affects Slot’s ability to act in the transfer market and more, TBR Football spoke exclusively to Liverpool University football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire.

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Liverpool to bank £20m thanks to new commercial venture

Football documentaries, perhaps inspired by the success of F1’s Drive to Survive success, are all the rage at present.

However, former Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp previously refused to grant cameras behind-the-scenes at the club in order to protect the sanctity of the dressing room.

But the German did come to a compromise earlier this year and Amazon are now leading the race for the rights to a documentary about Klopp’s final months at Liverpool.

How much might this venture alone be worth to Liverpool? Maguire cited previous Amazon-packaged series featuring Tottenham and Newcastle in his projections.

“Klopp is intelligent, witty and charismatic.

“Any documentary about his final few months is likely to attract a big audience, not just in the UK but globally.

“Given that the Newcastle and Spurs documentaries were estimated to be worth £10m, there is no reason that Liverpool can’t be looking for at least double that figure.

“If Klopp is interviewed as part of the process, and I am sure he will be, he will be candid about his decision to move on.

“This will generate substantial viewing figures for Amazon Prime and Liverpool will set their price accordingly in negotiations.

FSG want Liverpool to be more than a football club

FSG see Liverpool as a long-term capital appreciation project – they will eventually flip the club for a profit.

If they were to sell Liverpool tomorrow, they would easily secure a 10x return on the £300m they paid in 2010.

But they, along with most US investors in sport, believe that there is far more untapped revenue potential in football and will not pull out of the club any time soon.

Maguire thinks that the ultimate long-term goal is to broaden Liverpool’s brand in order to make them the most lucrative asset possible.

“FSG want Liverpool to be seen as more than football brand.

“They want them to be a sports brand, a leisure brand that even non-football fans can be interested in.

“They will leverage on the fact that Liverpool as a city is famous not just for football but also for music.

“The city was previously the European Capital of Culture and is an attractive place to visit. A trip to Anfield would be the icing on the cake if you were visiting the city.

“There is no reason why they can’t get Liverpool into all of these other markets rather than expecting those markets to come to Liverpool.

“That can be achieved by making the Liverpool brand one that influencers and celebrities want to be associate.

How will Arne Slot handle the balance between commercial and sporting priorities at Liverpool?

There are few clubs in the world with the commercial appeal of Liverpool.

With an extra £20m from the Klopp documentary, Liverpool will easily surpass the £150 mark for non-merchandise commercial revenue in 2024-25, as detailed by a UEFA report earlier this year.

How will Slot, whose only managerial experience is in the Netherlands, cope with having to balance the at times competing needs of the commercial department and his coaching?

“The commercial department is there to generate revenues and relationships with brands,” said Maguire.

“That allows the club to recruit and retain players who have performed well.

“There is a symbiotic relationship between the two.

“There can be frustration between the two departments in terms of player recovery and wellbeing given the demands that pre-season tours etc place on players, managers begrudgingly accept that it is part of the modern game.

“If the commercial department assists them in signing that one player who makes a difference next season, Arne Slot will go along with it.

“He is a fairly pragmatic character and will just have to get on with and recognise that net plusses are, broadly, better than the minuses.”