MANCHESTER UNITED may have recouped the £17 million it paid Borussia Dortmund for the services of Shinji Kagawa over the summer via three early-season partnership deals with Japanese firms.
This week, the club signed a three-year partnership with Japan-based soft drinks manufacturer Kagome, which becomes the club’s official soft drink partner in Japan until the end of the 2015/16 season.
Previously, United had struck official global partnership deals with the Japanese engineering company Yanmar over three year terms and Toshiba Medical Systems over five years.
Frontloaded understands that United charges a minimum £1 million for its international sponsorships, hence the overall value of the Japan-based contracts exceeds £19m if the global partnerships (Yanmar and Toshiba) are valued, as is likely, at around £2m per year.
The move to Manchester United has also been lucrative for Kagawa himself. According to Asian media sources, the player’s television advertising endorsement fees have risen to 50 million yen (£390,000), while his endorsements fees have grown to 30 million yen (£234,000).
The Kagome partnership follows an earlier announcement by United this week of a three-year deal with Azerbaijan telecommunications company Bakcell, giving Bakcell exclusive sponsorship and broadcast rights, including airing MUTV.
By Matthew Glendinning
Follow Matthew on Twitter: @mattglen