Barcelona President Joan Laporta defends €50m commission on Nike deal – ‘We regained trust’ | OneFootball

Barcelona President Joan Laporta has defended the use of a mediator, widely reported to be Darren Dein, in the negotiations of their new kit sponsorship deal with Nike. Dein reportedly earned €50m from the deal.

Many have wondered why Barcelona needed a mediator in order to extend a deal with Nike, who they were already in business with.

“The contract with Nike had to be changed. There were penalties for not winning, we didn’t have many things. It was a contract that, when I left here in 2010, was very similar to the amounts when it arrived in 2021. After 11 years. On top of that, with penalties. I told the CEO that it had to be changed. That it would be done in six months and there was no way. It was a thorn in the side. I knew Nike and I knew a strategy. It had to be changed. I am satisfied. I put another group of people to negotiate, with a legal strategy.”

In terms of Dein’s role, Laporta reasoned that it was necessary in order to allow Barcelona to operate with freedom in their negotiations, and get a better deal. He did not mention Dein by name.

“There was mistrust between the parties. Thanks to a mediator (Dein) that we agreed with Nike, we brought positions closer together. We reached a certain agreement in the summer to recover some money that Nike owed us, we were able to go to the market to look for other brands and we dropped the lawsuits against the multinational. With the mediator we regained trust.”

“We have the best sportswear contract in the world. We share the fees of the mediator between the multinational and Barca.”

Laporta has also claimed that the Nike deal is the best in the world, and will earn the club three times what they were bringing in before from their sponsorship deal. Officially, no details have been revealed about the contract other than the fact that it will run until 2038, and in total is believed to be in the region of €1.7b, but that has not been confirmed by the club.