Finance expert: Man City ‘flooding the market’ after new deal announced
Man City are “flooding the market” with new sponsorship deals in the United Arab Emirates.
That is the view of finance expert Doctor Dan Plumley, speaking exclusively to Football Insider about City’s latest commercial foray in the UAE.
The Premier League champions announced a new deal with Aldar, a real estate property developer, last Thursday (27 January).
City have also signed off on UAE-based contracts with luxury hotel brand Emirates Palace and sustainability specialists Masdar in 2022 alone.
City owner Sheikh Mansour is a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family and deputy prime minister of the UAE.
Plumley suggests that it is therefore no surprise to see City’s commercial arm targeting the Gulf state.
“There’s no limit on the number of deals you can do in a certain area,” the Sheffield Hallam University expert told Football Insider‘s Adam Williams.
“But there’s a point here about value in the territory. If you over-sign deals in a certain area, flooding the market is not always the way to go.
“There is obviously the City connection there with the UAE, so that explains this. But over-signing deals is a factor clubs should look at.
“The growth in commercial revenue is at the biggest clubs. I guess the only real challenge is around the fair value assessment in the Premier League.
“But we have no benchmark for the new rules because they are so new.
“At the moment, the commercial side of things is where they are driving things forward because there aren’t many restrictions.”
City pocketed £217.6million from commercial revenue streams in the last financial year.
Their biggest sponsor deal is with UAE-based airline Etihad.
In other news, Luke Bolton in advanced talks to join Salford City from Man City.