Jose Mourinho’s appointment as Tottenham head coach set tongues wagging in the commercial world, with many assuming it would bring an end to one of football’s most notable endorsement deals.
Mourinho is among the key clients for sportswear giants Adidas; their relationship spans 15 years and sources suggest it earns him around €250,000 per season, even if he is out of work.
Most managers who sign a personal sportswear sponsorship do so with the same manufacturer that supplies the club they are employed by and the two contracts will be closely linked.
Examples include Puma’s partnerships with Manchester City and Pep Guardiola, and New Balance’s with Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp. When the Liverpool tie-up finishes next summer Klopp’s will too, and when they switch to Nike there is a good chance Klopp will follow.
“It is not just for the value of the manager wearing the same brand as the club,” one industry expert tells The Athletic, “but also because it ‘greases the wheels’ when they need to ask the manager for permission to engage in promotional activities with the players and the club overall.”
Since leaving Inter Milan in 2010, Mourinho has only coached clubs whose kit was provided by Adidas at the time — Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United — so there was no clash.
Joining Tottenham means he is now working for a organisation sponsored by Adidas’s fierce rivals, Nike, and in normal circumstances that would lead to a severing of the association.
But, according to one industry source, Mourinho is “different to all the other managers” and therefore it may surprise many to learn that he will be allowed to remain with Adidas.
It is said that the German company view him similarly to the former England captain David Beckham and the ex-France playmaker Zinedine Zidane, who is now coach at Real Madrid.
That means Mourinho can continue to wear Adidas apparel away from Tottenham and when he is on club duty he will be free to sport any of their gear or high fashion, as seen with the Hugo Boss top the 56-year-old had on during Saturday’s victory at West Ham in his opening game.
Another reason for Mourinho to be cheerful is that he finally has the chance to coach Ryan Sessegnon, having repeatedly tried to sign the teenager from Fulham while in charge at United.
Something unlikely to have come with the Portuguese to Spurs, though, is a memento from Old Trafford. Mourinho memorably celebrated Marouane Fellaini’s winner in a Champions League victory over Young Boys in November 2018 by throwing a basket of drinks bottles to the ground, below.
He went unpunished over the incident and The Athletic understands the famous basket found its way into his office at United’s training ground — an unusual souvenir from his spell in Manchester.