Man City set to follow Chelsea blueprint with £20m deal on cards

Man City will aim to strike a sleeve sponsorship worth £20million to match Chelsea’s deal with Whalefin.

That is the view of finance expert Kieran Maguire, who spoke exclusively to Football Insider about City’s search for a new sleeve sponsor.

City announced on Thursday (11 May) that they have agreed to extend their partnership with Nexen but omit their rights as the club’s sleeve sponsor.

The Manchester club were the first Premier League club to adopt a shirt sleeve sponsor in 2017/18 when the Nexen agreement started, but they are set to end that sponsorship deal at the end of the 2022/23 season.

City will now search for a new sleeve sponsor ahead of the 2023/24 season, and the league leaders will likely want to match the value of Chelsea’s £20million deal with Whalefin.

The Blues unveiled their league-topping partnership with the crypto company in May 2022, but the deal was terminated just seven months later when the Singapore group underwent significant retrenchment.

Maguire believes City will want top dollar in their new deal to reflect their on-pitch success in recent years.

“Nexen have enjoyed the fruits of Man City’s success, so you can understand their reasoning for wanting to roll that deal over,” Maguire told Football Insider.

“The chances are that they’ve been priced out of the market. 

“City will have seen Chelsea sign a £20m-a-year deal with Whalefin.

“So as a team chasing a treble, City will be at least looking in the region of £15-20m for their next sleeve deal.

“They have an iconic, successful brand and sponsors are ultimately looking for eyeballs and City are delivering that.

“The one outstanding issue the club is waiting on is success in the Champions League.“

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