I wonder how many Lucas shirts get sold every week?

Torres Home Shirt

LIVERPOOL are putting their shirts on Fernando Torres to help ease their debts.

The Reds’ American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jnr, rubber-stamped a £290million refinace package this week and cashing in on the success of Torres is a crucial part of their marketing policy.

Anfield commercial director Ian Ayre said: “All the players are important but it’s evident certain ones are crucial.

“Fernando is a global icon and a great footballer. They go hand in hand. From a commercial standpoint he’s a huge attraction.

“Torres is the highest-selling shirt here. I’m not sure when he actually overtook Steven Gerrard, and there’s not a huge difference, but he is our biggest seller.

“Being a global brand we have a big opportunity to push on – but we know it’s not all about shirts.” (News of the World)

In this day and age it appears that the biggest pull factor in terms of purchasing a good player, is not just their abilities on the pitch but also just how marketable they are. Fernando Torres appears to be hitting the right notes in both departments.

His two seasons at Anfield have been a massive personal success with the Spaniard netting 50 goals in 73 starts, and to think that many pundits originally thought that Rafa Benitez had paid over the odds for the Spanish international!

For El Nino to have surpassed Steven Gerrard in shirt sales is a tad surprising but clearly as a global brand the former Atletico Madrid man helps push the Liverpool brand in the Spanish speaking world which of course includes huge sporting markets in North and South America as well as in his homeland.

Sponsorship and Television money have long since outstripped a club’s income from ticket sales and merchandising has now seemingly followed suit as a revenue stream and big club’s have cottoned on to this fact when it comes to offering huge sums of money to lure the real big guns of the game.

Just look at this summers cash cow Real Madrid. Their capture of Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo had as much to do with the ability of both to effectively market the club across the world as well as their obvious talents on the field of play.

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