Arsenal sign most lucrative contract in British soccer with Puma

Cha-ching! After the 2013-2014 season, Arsenal will begin an agreement with Puma to become the official kit sponsor for $46 million/year over five years. In contrast, they were receiving roughly $17 million/year with their current Nike agreement.

This ends a 20-year agreement with Nike, a 20-year run that includes a top 5 Premier League finish in every season but one. Manchester United and Manchester City are the only two remaining teams that will be represented by Nike in the Premier League moving forward.

May

Wayne Rooney removes “Manchester United player” from Twitter bio

Wayne Rooney had requested a transfer that was adamantly denied by the club’s front office. Manchester United has insisted that the striker is not for sale. In the latest move in what is surely going to be a long game of cat and mouse, Rooney made some changes in the social media world.

He has removed the term “Manchester United player” from his Twitter bio and replaced it with NikeUK Athlete. Just another sign of disgruntlement from the English star.

Will Rooney indeed be on the move this Summer? Stay tuned.

<a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/video?videoid=7e707a79-5da6-49b4-b9f4-b35b8a3a7374&src=v5:embed:syndication:&from=shareembed-syndication" title="Manchester United deny Rooney departure" target="_new">Video: Manchester United deny Rooney departure</a>

Jan

Adidas sees Nike’s special CR7 cleats and raises with these Messi boots

Well you knew this was coming.

Just one week after Nike released these special edition bad boys to commemorate Cristiano Ronaldo’s stellar 2012 season, Adidas comes out with these awesome Messi Ballon d’Or boots:

The special F50s display just four numbers, for each year Messi won the Ballon d’Or. Each is engulfed in its own “Sun of May,” the symbol found in Argentina’s national flag.

If shoes could slap each other in the face, that’s what just would’ve went down.

Jan

CR7’s new boots commemorate his 2012 season

Athletes putting numbers or certain statements on their footwear is nothing new. Just watch any NBA game. Most of the time, though, they are meant to be in dedication of somebody or something else.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s new boots, meanwhile, are clearly dedicated to himself. The limited edition Nike CR Mercurial IXs contain a series of seven numbers, each pertaining to a statistic of his from the 2012 season.The meaning of them is outlined below:

1st Spanish league title
9 goals scored for Portugal
14 games played for the national team
19 first player to score against all 19 rival teams competing in La Liga in a season
27 years old in 2012
55 matches played in all competitions for club
60 goals scored in all competitions for club

Ronaldo will sport these bad boys in his next La Liga match against Real Sociedad on Sunday, just a day before the Ballon D’Or award ceremony. However, the self-promoting shoes are not expected to cause a sway in the voting.

Images via The Beautiful Gear

Dec

Saint-Étienne striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang recently turned heads during a Ligue 1 match earlier in the week by wearing diamond-encrusted soccer boots, this according to the Mail.

The Gabonese-French football customized his green Nike Vapors which contained 4,000 Swarovski crystals. Aubameyang’s cleats reportedly cost over $4,000. Wowzas!

No word yet if the fashion police hit Saint-Étienne’s headquarters during the week.