Arsenal hit by ‘£10m’ blow after deal terminated
Arsenal will suffer a financial blow after they decided to terminate their deal with Visit Rwanda at the end of the season.
That is according to ex-Everton, Aston Villa and Aberdeen chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes Arsenal could lose up to £10million in revenue.
Visit Rwanda have been sleeve sponsors of Arsenal‘s kits since 2018, alongside the clubs long-term front-of-shirt partnership with Emirates.
The partnership though has been controversial, with Arsenal supporters protesting against the Visit Rwanda deal due to the political landscape in the African country.
Arsenal faced ‘issues’ with Visit Rwanda deal
Everton’s former chief Keith Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – does think Arsenal‘s work in Rwanda should not go unnoticed despite the controversy surrounding the deal.
Speaking on the new edition of Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast, Wyness believes politics was one of the main reasons why the deal was terminated.
He told Football Insider‘s Inside Track podcast: “I think, yes, I think it has played a role, certainly, in terms of the escalation of the war with Congo and the M23 rebel group. It has got itself under the geopolitical spotlight.
“Now, as you know, I hate when politics gets involved in football, but I do believe that in this case, there was starting to be some issues and some blowback around that particular sponsorship.
“I do believe Arsenal had done this for the right reasons and had also gone across and done a lot of good work in terms of youth growth and academies, etc. in Rwanda. And that shouldn’t be taken away.
“But I’m afraid Africa is a very complex market and there is a political issue there that I think did become a little bit too hot to handle. However, Rwanda are with, I think, PSG and Atletico Madrid. So they’re still involved in football.
“Other clubs have managed to maintain that position and I think sports should try and be above those sort of conflicts but nevertheless this is a hot one and I think it did play a role for Arsenal unfortunately. That’s about 10 million pounds in revenue I think is what we’re talking about.”
Arsenal talks already underway for new sponsor
Arsenal want to agree a £20m deal with their next sleeve sponsor, with interest already high from companies wanting to secure an agreement.
German software company SAP have approached Arsenal to discuss a potential deal, who were previous sponsors of City Football Group.
Whilst Arsenal will want a sponsor in place for the beginning of next season, their value could increase if they win the Premier League and Champions League this season.
The north London club are currently top of the Premier League and one of the favourites to win the Champions League.