Adidas deal could COST Liverpool a chance at €100m striker | OneFootball

Liverpool are feeling positive ahead of the summer transfer window, especially after agreeing a deal to re-sign Adidas as the club's sponsor alongside securing the Premier League title.

The vibes are good and there is good reason for everyone attached to the club to be optimistic about what next season might have in store. The budget for recruitment is set to be pretty hefty and after seeing what Arne Slot can do with Jurgen Klopp's squad, the Dutchman will now get to sign players.

One of the only negatives right now is the Trent Alexander-Arnold news. The right-back formally announced that he would be leaving last week and the reception he received at Anfield last night was a cauldron of boos. It's somewhat taken the shine off the party atmosphere as a result.

But a replacement is already in line for him in Jeremie Frimpong, a player who is more prolific in an attacking sense, and who might also be better at defending than him in some aspects, so the fans are already starting to let go and make piece with Trent's decision.

However, it turns out that Liverpool's big-money deal with Adidas might be one of the reasons why the club misses out on a potential summer signing elsewhere on the pitch.

Nike will attempt to persuade Gyokeres to join Atletico Madrid

According to Mundo Deportivo, Atletico have made a formal consultation about Viktor Gyokeres' situation and while it might not be easy to get a deal done, they could have the upper hand in negotiations as a result of recently signing with Nike.

The contract between the club and the brand was extended to 2035 and it is believed that this relationship will be key to negotiations as Sporting Lisbon are also sponsored by Nike.

So much so that because of how impressive the 26-year-old has been this season and in his career so far, the Daily Mail have quoted a report from EL Nacional which claims that it is possible that the sports brand could actually pay some of his transfer fee in order to bring him to Atletico Madrid.

If this were to happen, then it would drastically rule out a number of clubs from signing him, including Liverpool who will no longer be wearing the iconic tick on their shirts.

So while the Adidas brand deal will make a lot of sense for different ventures moving forward, it could actively have damaged Liverpool's chances of signing the Swedish striker.

Although it would not just be the Reds who would be impacted by the deal.

The report adds: "The main competitor for the striker is Arsenal. From Sky Sports, they assure that in London, Andrea Berta is working to have the striker that Arteta is missing at the moment. A bid that other teams such as Manchester United and Bayern Munich are also paying attention to."

But as it later mentions, all three of those clubs are part of Adidas' portfolio, so Liverpool will also see their main rivals miss out on a possible deal if the sponsorship ends up become the deciding factor.

Of course, Liverpool will still fight to sign the player, especially as it is believed that the Reds are one of the clubs that he desires the most, so a clever negotiating strategy could still land him a move.

His insane goal returns this season - 50 goals and 12 assists - makes him one of the hottest properties in the world right now. If Darwin Nunez leaves, he would be a perfect replacement.

But this update feels somewhat damning in our hunt for him. If Nike are actually determined to make sure he only moves to a club in their portfolio, then we will have unknowingly walked away from a possible deal by switching sponsors.

Although as I mentioned earlier, Liverpool will quickly move onto other targets if Gyokeres suddenly becomes unavailable and there are still a lot of reasons to be positive about the club right now.