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It’s no surprise: the signing of Lionel Messi has given Paris Saint-Germain gains never before achieved, with the Argentine generating new sponsorships and merchandising sales that have never been seen before.
According to the newspaper Marca, PSG sold over a million shirts last season, with Messi passing Cristiano Ronaldo, who has returned to Manchester United. Of that million, 60 percent is equivalent to Messi’s number 30 shirt. The French club thus passed the English as the one that sells the most jerseys worldwide.
In total, PSG earned 41 million euros in merchandising – in the first three hours, Messi’s jerseys earned 933 thousand euros. The arrival of the Argentine led the club to open a giant store in the middle of Avenida dos Campos Elísios in order to accommodate the demand, but even that was difficult to satisfy.
«Demand has grown between 30 and 40%, what can only do for this is supply. When a transfer of this magnitude happens, like Ronaldo to United, for example, one might think that the players will be paid with the sale of shirts, but this is not true. You can’t produce that many extra shirts. There is an agreement set to guarantee minimums, but we have not been able to meet the demand for Messi’s jerseys. We touched the ceiling. We are selling a lot, perhaps more than any other club in the world for one player, and that takes us to the next level”, explained merchandising director Marc Armstrong.
Messi’s arrival also had a big impact on social media – the club garnered over 15 million followers across all platforms and broke the 150 million mark for the first time.
