Replica football kits are a massive business and represent an important revenue stream for all football clubs, at all levels of the game. One indication of their pull can be seen in the 24 hours after Juventus announced the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo. Within a day, the Turin club had sold 520,000 replica shirts – a cool £46.7m of merchandise shifted.
That’s obviously at the upper reaches of the market but Leeds United don’t do too bad themselves and will see sales rise even more with a combination of Premier League promotion and Adidas as their apparel manufacturer. Using a three-year sales window, Leeds were 11th in replica sales; expect that to change, though.
There is a vague ‘later this month’ schedule for the Adidas replica shirts to be released. Fans cannot wait for this release. However, they have received a sneak peek into what might be in store for them with the announcement of the arrival of Joe Gelhardt.
HELLO GORGEOUS. GET IN MY BASKET. #LUFC pic.twitter.com/qRsF3Qh83T
— Right In The Gary Kellys (@RITGK) August 10, 2020
The above tweet can be verified as an original picture of the new Leeds United Adidas shirt due to the fact that it is Victor Orta (left) and Joe Gelhardt (right) pictured holding it up.
It is a glimpse that has definitely whetted the appetite of Leeds United fans waiting for the home shirt to land. The Whites centenary home kit sold as many shirts in just 12 days as had been sold in 12 weeks with the previous kit. The grey/pink away shirt was blasted by some but still sold 4,000 units in just 24 hours to easily make it the highest-selling away kit in the club’s history.
That record of sales in 12 days will be smashed when the Adidas shirt is unveiled. All that remains to be seen is if Adidas can manufacture it quickly enough. The demand will be there; here’s how some Leeds United fans have reacted to the leaked image.
Leeds United fans react to leaked image of Adidas home shirt
The following are some of the comments from the above tweet of the leaked shirt image:
@simondavis92 pic.twitter.com/tzC8QSPFJO
— Ollie (@O_Heeley) August 10, 2020
WE’RE REAL MADRID!?!?!?!!?
— Dean (@DeanoNet) August 10, 2020
Brilliant, like the Revie days
— Richard Huw Jones (@RichardHuw2) August 10, 2020
That’s going straight in my basket.
— Alex (@AJG8701) August 10, 2020
Beauty 💛💙 Please let the stripes be blue, or blue and yellow 🙏🏽
— Geir Nyheim 🏆🥇 (@GeirNyheim) August 10, 2020
..winner winner chicken dinner !! 😂 💙💛💙 #LUFC
— Isidro Ruiz 💙💛💙 (@IsidroR22400733) August 10, 2020
#FreeBenWhite pic.twitter.com/6pgGv9se2I
— Paul Timmins (@paultimminsuk) August 10, 2020
Here’s a snapshot of what others are saying about the image that is doing the rounds.
https://twitter.com/LUFC_QUINNY/status/1292913419247652865?s=20
https://twitter.com/flxnLUFC/status/1292913141567967232?s=20
The combination of the Adidas kit deal, my 14 year old daughter & my penchant for Adidas is gonna cost me a fortune #lufc
— David Wood (@mrdavidnwood) August 10, 2020
So from that picture of the home kit, I can only assume that the away and third kit are the ones that are going to be marmite… seeing as Andrea said that he has had input on them. That home one just seems like every other basic kit, but with a Leeds badge on #LUFC
Still buying.— Lee Grayson (@LeeGrayson) August 10, 2020
https://twitter.com/caleb23lufc/status/1292910165730230273?s=20
