When it was revealed in January that Liverpool were beginning the process of selecting their next kit manufacturer, hopes of striking a deal worth £75million-per-season may have seemed a touch ambitious.
Yes, steady progress under Jurgen Klopp had brought about consecutive top-four finishes for the first time since 2009, as well as an appearance in the 2018 Champions League final.
But defeat to Real Madrid in Kiev extended a silverware drought that severely damaged claims that this was a club that had truly returned to football’s elite.
Fortunately for the Reds’ hierarchy, heartbreak in Ukraine only delayed confirmation of their new-found status by 12 months as the European Cup was claimed courtesy of victory over Tottenham in June.
And success in Madrid has only served to strengthen Liverpool’s negotiating position with the end of their kit manufacturing deal with New Balance fast approaching.
According to research conducted by lovethesales.com, the reigning European champions have seen a 76 per cent season-to-season uptick in online searches for their home shirt in the UK alone.
Those figures not only make Liverpool’s the most searched Premier League kit in this country, but also three times more popular than their rivals for the title of England’s biggest club, Manchester United.
The correlation between this search traffic and sales is obvious, as is the value of world stars such as Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Klopp - a committed tracksuit manager, of course - bearing the manufacturers’ logo on a regular basis.
And a combination of those factors explains why a deal worth significantly more than initial forecasts suggested is now likely.
That represents bad news for incumbents New Balance, who would likely find themselves priced out of any bidding war involving the industry’s heavyweights.
Sources close to the Boston-based firm have told Standard Sport that they are taking a business-as-usual approach to their relationship with the Reds until its end - whether that means proposed kit designs for next season end up on the cutting room floor or not.
However, Nike remain the obvious frontrunner to complete a deal that would run from the 2020-21 campaign onward, even if suggestions that an agreement has already been struck are wide of the mark.
Adidas were, of course, the Reds’ most recent kit manufacturer prior to their tie-up with Warrior/New Balance, but have added Arsenal to a stable already including Manchester United in the last 12 months.
Meanwhile, Puma, whose only top-six Premier League representation comes courtesy of champions Manchester City, are unlikely to be able to match the deals proposed by their rivals.
Still, until the contracts are signed, speculation over Liverpool’s next kit manufacturer remains exactly that.
As such, the only certainty surrounding the deal for now is that it is likely to be of the record-breaking variety.
