19 May 2023 , 20:39
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Adult subscription platform My.Club have offered Champions League finalists Inter Milan £80million to solve their kit sponsorship problem.
The Nerazzurri roared into the final of Europe’s premier club competition thanks to a convincing three-goal aggregate victory over city rivals Milan. Striker Lautaro Martinez scored the only goal of the second leg to give victory to Simone Inzaghi’s side on the night, to wrap up a comprehensive victory on aggregate.
The Nerazzurri were two goals up from the first 11 minutes of the first leg after quickfire goals from Edin Dzeko and Henrikh Mkhitaryan caught Milan cold. Unsurprisingly, Inter fans revelled in the celebrations of completing the achievement over the Rossoneri.
Notably, Inter have qualified for the final despite not having a kit sponsor. That is because they did not receive money from their previous sponsor Digitalbits, a cryptocurrency firm. It was removed last month after none of the paid agreement was made from the sponsor.
Inter did not receive a single euro of the £21million agreement they had with the sponsor, on top of an additional £2.6million in bonuses spread over the past two seasons. The club’s youth and women’s teams already had the branding removed earlier in the campaign over a lack of payment.
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The same scenario was true of Roma, their Serie A rivals and Europa League finalists, but the Italian capital club moved to solve that issue temporarily by using the SPQR logo on their shirt – a nod to the history of their famous city. Yet Inter have been playing in recent weeks without any sponsor.
Inter scorer Lautaro Martinez celebrated with fans after firing his side into the Champions League final (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)Have Your Say! What do you think of the offer to Inter? Tell us what you think here.
My.Club have made an offer - proposing a deal of up to £80million (€100m) to become their official sponsor until 2029. That figure is well below the kind of price the Premier League's biggest clubs earn from shirt sponsorship deals while Inter are understood to be looking for a deal of around £26million-a-year for a new front-of-shirt sponsor from next term.
Nevertheless, an exclusive account has already been set up for them by My.Club, with a message that reads: "This page and T-shirt secured exclusively for probably the best football team in Europe."
It would give Inter somewhere to upload exclusive content for their fans for a set monthly fee, and they could potentially interact with players or club legends as part of Q&A's.
Mike Ford, Vice President at My.Club, explained: "Here at My.Club we’re all about penetrating new verticals. Much how Inter’s players squeeze their balls into tight spaces, into the box and then score, we’re looking to do the same.”
Inter stars such as Romelu Lukaku have been playing in their sponsor-less kit (Getty Images)Ford added, looking ahead to next month’s final: “We want to sponsor them as they conquer Europe. We can increase their visibility along the way and help drive interactivity, engagement and ultimately boost their authentic communication with fans.
“We’d love to see Lautaro Martínez sharing his exclusive footage on My.Club after the final CL game vs Man City.”
The 2023 Champions League final, featuring Inter against either Manchester City will take place in Istanbul, Turkey on June 10. Inter still have three Serie A matches remaining while they will contest the Coppa Italia final against Fiorentina.