The Man City star wearing both superbrands already this season is the latest sign that the endorsement landscape has changed forever
When Erling Haaland made his first appearance for Manchester City – in a pre-season friendly against Bayern Munich – he was spotted wearing the adidas X SPEEDPORTAL boots.
The sight of the Norwegian striker in the bright green boots started the speculation cycle, with rumours that he was on the cusp of signing a permanent deal with adidas.
Instead, Haaland followed up his Three Stripe appearance by wearing the Nike Mercurial Vapor 14 for his Premier League debut.
Throughout his young career so far, Haaland has always been a Mercurial man, and it seems fitting that he scored his first Premier League goals while wearing his favourite silhouette.
Haaland’s relationship with Nike, and the Mercurial, had previously been more formal, with a lucrative €1 million deal with the American giant.
That deal came to an end at the start of January 2022, and Haaland has been without an official boot deal ever since.
The striker seems to be enjoying the freedom though. On-pitch, he’s been able to try out new adidas silhouettes alongside his preferred Nike option, while away from the pitch, he’s been spotted in new releases from each brand, including the Travis Scott x Air Jordan 1 Low “Reverse Mocha” and a recent Liam Gallagher x adidas Spezial collaboration.
Haaland’s decision to take his time, and potentially turn down a traditional boot deal is part of a wider trend amongst footballers. Last year, The Athletic reported on Thiago (who wore adidas, Nike, blacked-out boots and even Mizuno), Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka amongst others, all of whom were coming to the end of their Nike deals and due to be released by the Swoosh.
Since then, all three players have signed new deals – Thiago with adidas, while Saka and Sterling are at the forefront of the New Balance revolution – but the endorsement landscape has changed dramatically as brands take a different direction.
The reasons for the new approach from major brands have never been disclosed, and a number of theories were put forward. The most obvious is the financial impact of COVID-19, which hit Nike and adidas hard and led to a general belt-tightening.
In this context, it makes sense if Nike cut back on some of their secondary endorsement deals, and instead focus on the reliable big hitters: Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe.
Nike has also narrowed its scope to focus on players who fit into its “Purpose”-driven approach. The brand has continued to champion Marcus Rashford, and reworked its “Dream Crazy” ad format to celebrate the Manchester United player with the line “Boys from Wythenshawe don’t just become champions. They champion change.”
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