Liverpool have officially unveiled a special edition LeBron James collection after the basketball icon became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
The Premier League giants and James both teased the collection, but it seemed fitting that it was officially released just 24 hours after the Lakers star broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s long-standing NBA records.
Billionaire James first bought a 2% stake in Liverpool in 2011 for £4.7m with business partner Maverick Carter, the same year FSG bought Liverpool for £300m.
The four-time NBA champion converted his stake in Liverpool into a 1% stake in FSG’s global empire in March 2021, following the club’s wins in the 2019 Champions League and 2020 Premier League.
Liverpool’s owners put the club up for sale for £2.7bn last November, although they have reportedly yet to receive any offers. In June 2022, Forbes named James the first active NBA player to become a billionaire with his £74m stake in FSG.
The LFC X LeBron Collection includes both a fashion and footwear collection, which the club says “embodies a long-standing bond between two global sporting icons and celebrates our shared values and illustrious histories.”
Liverpool have released photos of the King wearing a special kit with the James logo in the center and black with red stripes.
There are also a variety of vests, shorts, sweaters, shoes, hoodies and t-shirts modeled by the likes of Jordan Henderson, Alisson, Andy Robertson and Fabio Carvalho.
The Liverpool and Nike logos are also included, while the letters YNWA (You’ll Never Walk Alone) are included in the design. Liverpool chairman Tom Werner said in November 2021 that the Premier League squad would release “seven or eight items” in a range of sportswear featuring the Lakers star that will “rival the connection Michael Jordan has with Nike.
Jordan’s historic deal with Nike, which began with the launch of Air Jordans in 1985, continues to dominate the market 38 years later.
Alisson was also photographed wearing the LFC x LeBron collection, wearing a special edition basketball jersey
James, pictured at Anfield in 2011 when he first bought a stake in the Premier League side
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Liverpool set to cut €175m worth of players in ‘brutal reconstruction’
Liverpool are having a miserable season as they are tenth in the Premier League and manager Jurgen Klopp’s response will be emphatic in the summer.
The German is planning huge changes to the Anfield squad, with as many as 10 players set to leave, according to a Mirror report.
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Klopp is planning what has been described as a “brutal rebuild” of his squad, which will see a number of players worth over €175m – and not just shirt fillers – leave behind.
Who will Liverpool sell in the summer?.
Perhaps the most notable name on the list is Roberto Firmino, who has been a pillar of the club for eight years and trained a third of what was once considered the best striker in world football, alongside Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, who has he has since moved to Bayern Munich. His contract expires in 2024 after 244 Premier League appearances for the Reds, in which he scored 78 times.
However, Liverpool fans won’t be surprised to learn that it’s the midfield where the most dramatic changes are likely to occur, with key figures here being Fabinho and James Milner. Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are also leaving, while Arthur is also allowed to leave after a spell on loan from Juventus due to injury.
Defense will also be subject to change. After his disastrous performance against Wolves last weekend, Joel Matip’s name is on the list, while Nat Phillips is another to be dropped. Eventually, changes are made to the goal, though Alisson is retained. However, his liner will be changed. Both Adrian and Caoimhin Kelleher are ready to leave the club.
These 10 players together have an expected transfer value of over €175m according to FootballTransfers’ ratings, with Fabinho being the most important of them with a price tag of over €70m.
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Liverpool chose not to inject any cash during the January transfer window, but the same cannot be said for Chelsea and the other teams who have made it big. FSG knows.
“from Liverpool.Com – Liverpool.Com – The biggest LFC opinion and analysis
If further confirmation was needed, transfer deadline day proved yet again that Liverpool and Chelsea are currently on different ends of the spectrum when it comes to signings.
On the one hand, Liverpool: waiting patiently (and risky) for the summer while they are in the middle of the standings. On the other side Chelsea: Their deal with Enzo Fernández should have been finalized at the time of this writing – incredibly, their addition on January 8th.
Chelsea’s mid-season spending reached $394m (£320m/€363m) with the $131m (£105m/€120m) signing of Fernández.
They spent around $308m (£250m/€283m) last summer. What exactly happens if some of these deals don’t work out as expected? Mykhailo Mudryk, for example, will prove difficult to move an eight-and-a-half-year contract if it doesn’t become a success.
And even if most of these transfers work out the way Chelsea clearly think they will, they will need a certain level of performance to justify the outlay.
The contrast with Liverpool, where a little more spending would have been a big boost going into the second half of the season, couldn’t be starker, with their reluctance as much as a gamble.
If further confirmation was needed, transfer deadline day proved yet again that Liverpool and Chelsea are currently on different ends of the spectrum when it comes to signings.
On the one hand Liverpool: waiting patiently (and risky) until the summer while they are in midfield. Chelsea, on the other hand: Their deal for Enzo Fernández is expected to be finalized at the time of writing – incredibly their January 8 signing.
Of course, Liverpool are capable of spending more than they have. Cody Gakpo are off to a good start but they are taking a big risk by not stepping up and hoping their current squad can limp towards the Champions League places. As Jurgen Klopp eluded earlier this month, Liverpool will have to spend a bit more than they currently do to keep up with not just Chelsea but Newcastle and the other big spenders who are unlikely to slow down.
“I don’t see the investment stopping in the future and that means we have to do that too,” Klopp said some days ago on Sky Sports.
