Lionel Messi is accustomed to breaking all sorts of records on the pitch, but he has now generated a new record off the pitch.
His arrival at Paris Saint Germain has pushed shirt sales to an unprecedented high, for the first time ever, PSG sold over one million shirts last season. Messi’s number 30 shirt made up over 60% of the sales.
That staggering figure is a first for any player in the sport, yet again showing his superstar pull power in the shops.
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Messi’s long term rival Cristiano Ronaldo was leading the way in the shirt sales after he made a sensational return to Manchester United last summer.
Ronaldo’s replica shirts sales made United an eye watering £187 million by September, but Messi’s shirt sale figures continued to climb up the table and eventually overtook the Portuguese.
United are also no longer the club that has the most shirt sales, with PSG now sitting top of the charts.
When the news broke that Messi was leaving Barcelona for PSG, almost €1 million was generated via shirt sales within hours.
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The French champions had to move their official store to Paris’ famous shopper’s paradise, the Champs-Elysees to deal with the high demand. They doubled the service area available to them in order to shift as many shirts as possible.
PSG’s chief partnerships officer, Marc Armstrong told Marca: “Demand has grown by 30 to 40 per cent and really what can slow it down is supply.
“When a signing of this size happens, [Cristiano] Ronaldo to [Manchester] United for example, you might think he's going to get paid by selling shirts, but that's not the case. You can't produce a lot of extra shirts.”
“The agreement is set to guarantee very important minimums but we can't meet the demand for Messi shirts. We have reached the ceiling.”
He added: “Nobody can meet that demand. We are already selling a lot of jerseys, maybe more than any other team in the world for one player, and that puts us at the next level”
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“We have a lot of demand for lifestyle products, the revenue with the Jordan brand is huge, but the demand grows even more when you sign a player like Messi.”
Away from shirt sales, Armstrong also said that the club’s social media followings were growing at a rate of £1.4 million per week. With ticket sales and demand also increasing.
PSG believe that they have made £600 million in revenue since Messi came to the club.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Football, Paris Saint-Germain, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United
