The bizarre problem Barcelona had with Nike related to Lewandowski fan jerseys – report

Barcelona and Nike are close to renewing their agreement and announcing a new contract with improved terms for the club.

Not very long ago, the Blaugrana were seriously considering parting ways with the American sporting goods giants as they felt the deal that was between the two was not good enough for the club.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta even confirmed that at one point the deal with Nike was being terminated, with the matter going to court where the Catalans planned to use several arguments to back their decision.

Subbing the letter M for W in Lewandowski’s name

One of the arguments that Barcelona planned to put forward, as per SPORT, is the problems that Barcelona faced with the usage of the letter ‘W’ for printing on fan jerseys.

In some areas of the world, the letter W does not exist, which created a problem because Robert Lewandowski has been the best-selling shirt for Barcelona and it was not possible to write his name correctly, which has two W’s.

Nike used inverted ‘M’ for ‘W’ in Lewandowski’s name. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)

The solution that was found was to use the M upside down in order to overcome this handicap generated by the name of the Polish centre-forward.

This was one of the arguments Barcelona kept before the court, along with distribution errors from two summers ago when the new shirt was not in the shops, to denounce Nike’s contract and avoid the fine for breach of contract.

New deal on the horizon

But as reported earlier, both Barcelona and Nike have worked around their differences and are set to continue their partnership for longer with improved terms on the table.

Indeed, it is being suggested that Nike will offer a mammoth €120 million per season deal for ten years, along with a huge €100 million signing bonus, which would help Barça emerge out of their FFP issues and achieve the 1:1 rule.