TheCable

Manchester United may have sent Chicharito (Javier Hernandez) on loan to Real Madrid, but the Red Devils have hooked up with another Chi.

On Wednesday, United announced a commercial deal with Chi Limited to become the club’s official soft drinks partner in Nigeria.

The deal allows Chi Limited to use United’s crest and club imagery on their products in Nigeria.

For the club, the deal will boost their coffers further as they look to continue to fund their purchase of players through commercial tie-ups.

At a ceremony held at Old Trafford in Manchester, the management of Chi Limited signed the sponsorship deal attended by leading players of the club like Angel Di Maria, Robin Van Persie, Antonio Valencia and Anders Lindegaard.

“We are delighted to welcome Chi Limited as an official partner of Manchester United. We have close to 35 million followers in Nigeria who are some of the most passionate in our global fan base,” Richard Arnold, United’s group managing director said.

Man United has a huge fan base in Nigeria, and even paraded its 2008 Champions League trophy in the country when the club came on tour.

This is not lost on Chi Limited’s head of marketing, Probal Bhattacharya.

“As the flagship brand of Chi Ltd, Chivita 100% will feature as the fruit juice of choice for the Manchester United team,” he said.

“As a company, we are proud to partner with such a reputed and successful club like Manchester United whose tradition of excellence is in tandem with ours.

“We are confident that the partnership will further deepen consumer loyalty as well as ensure that millions of passionate soccer fans across Nigeria continue to refresh and rejuvenate themselves with Chivita 100% fruit juice and Chi’s other beverage offerings as they relish every moment of the beautiful game.”

The deal is reportedly worth between £1 to 2 million a year.