Park Ji-sung Football Boots: Negotiating 10-Year Nike Contract

Nike in Negotiations with Manchester United Midfielder for Record Breaking 10 year Football Boot Deal

Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung is said to be negotiating a mega-sponsorship deal with football boot maker Nike, that would see him wearing Nike football boots for another 10 years! This would take the Korean player until he was 38 years old, surely until the end of his footballing career (probably at Bolton).

Park is currently signed with Nike, along with teammates Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, but a contract of this length is unusual even in the current big bucks era. The deal is reported to be worth approx £333,000 a year over the full ten years – easily the highest Nike has ever paid for a Korean athlete and shows the belief and value Nike places on Park as a rising an establishing world star.

Nike also clearly values the Korean market, as it is locked in a dispute with Adidas over the rights to the Korean national football team sponsor which it has been sponsor of since 1996. Nike is set to negotiate in October but face competition from Adidas, who sponsor China and Japan and Puma who are keen to spread past their African teams to the Orient.

In terms of football boot deals, Park still lags behind the mighty contracts of Rooney, Beckham, Henry et al who are all in the million pound a year club from their sponsors, but what football player wouldn’t be tempted by a ten year deal?