Chelsea sign second-most lucrative kit deal in football

Less than a week after ditching adidas and paying them a cool £40m to get out six years early (2017) from the long-term contract (was due to end in 2023), Chelsea are set to sign the second-most lucrative kit deal in all of football.

Chelsea just doubled their kit deal by agreeing to £60 million per year deal with Nike. Good stuff from @Matt_Law_DT https://t.co/DuviXSjIUL

— Jake Cohen (@JakeFCohen) May 17, 2016

Out with the adidas, in with the Nike!  Manchester United remain top dogs in the kit wars with their £75m-per-year adidas deal, but as of right now, Chelsea's £60m doubles Arsenal's (£30m with Puma) and quintuples Manchester City's (£12m with Nike) deals, and is worth more than even Real Madrid*.  Not bad for a mid-table Premier League side!

* There are rumors of Real and adidas agreeing to a £100m-per-year deal, but adidas have rubbished those.

When we first heard the news of the adidas contract pay-off, we had only hoped that Chelsea had something fantastic lined up as replacement.  Indeed, that turns out to be very much the case, apparently all thanks to Marina Granovskaia.  The deal is assumed to be for ten years, though there's been no official comment from Chelsea or Nike just yet.

Well done, Chelsea front office!