Jose Mourinho to Manchester United: Failure to secure image rights could cost ‘tens of millions of pounds’

ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images
Simon Johnson26 May 2016

Manchester United would miss out on millions of pounds in merchandise earnings if they fail to come to an agreement with Chelsea over Jose Mourinho’s image rights.

Mourinho’s move to Old Trafford will happen regardless. He has agreed a three-year deal worth a minimum £10million-a-year, but the deal has been held up while negotiations with his former club continue.

Chelsea, who sacked the Portuguese last December, have owned his name as a trademark since 2005. According to the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office database, that will remain the case until 2025. It means the Blues still hold the rights to sell a variety of products under Mourinho’s name, including clothing, toiletries, jewellery and technology, even though he no longer works at the club.

United have a number of options available to them. They could pay Chelsea for a licence to use his name; get Mourinho to buy his trademark back or just decide not to use his name on any of the items to which Chelsea have rights.

But leading sports marketing expert Nigel Currie told Standard Sport: “For United to get Mourinho’s name on their merchandise to sell around the world, we are talking about it being worth tens of millions of pounds to them. The earning potential is enormous.”

"He is such a huge star and the Premier League is such a global institution, the earning potential is enormous.

"Manchester United are one of the biggest clubs in the world and have a massive fanbase.

"I am sure common sense will prevail. In truth, the value of holding Mourinho's trademark to Chelsea is not as high as when he was still with them.

"I would have thought Manchester United will end up paying a seven figure sum for it. It depends how awkward Chelsea want to be about it, but I think a deal should be done easily."

Mourinho did work at Inter Milan and Real Madrid after leaving Chelsea first time around in 2007 and it is believed both clubs paid the west London side for a licence.

Jose Mourinho’s memorable matches vs Manchester United

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Currie also feels Mourinho will have learned from his mistake of allowing Chelsea to register his name for 20 years.

He added: "That deal was done in 2005. Since then the growth of the Premier League and image rights has increased significantly. The very top players and managers have identified that there are things they can do which can open up another revenue stream.

"With big moves involving players like Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo, image rights have become a much more important part of any contract than it was 10 years ago."

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