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While the deal will only come into effect later this summer, Liverpool will switch to Adidas this season after five years with Nike. And some of its top stars are already with the German sports giant.
Mohamed Salah is an Adidas athlete, and so too is new signing Florian Wirtz. Together, earlier this month, they were part of the advertising campaign for the new F50 boots.
Alongside the likes of Inter Miami star Lionel Messi, PSG winger Ousmane Dembele, and Barcelona talent Lamine Yamal, Salah and Wirtz appeared on the Adidas Instagram page with the new shoes. "The fastest roster on the planet," the slogan reads. "Blink and you'll miss it."
Salah and Wirtz could link up for the first time on the field when Liverpool kicks off pre-season against Preston North End tomorrow. That will mark the first game since the tragic passing of Diogo Jota last week.
Tributes will be paid to Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, ahead of kick-off. Liverpool has also confirmed that its number 20 jersey will be retired in commemoration of Jota's contributions for the club.
There will be a rendition of You’ll Never Walk Alone ahead of kick-off, with the hosts set to lay a wreath alongside the away supporters.
A minute’s silence will then be observed in Jota and Silva’s memory, with digital tributes being displayed on screen and across pitchside LEDs. Both sets of players will also wear black armbands.
Preston has also created a commemorative matchday programme which features written tributes to Jota and Silva. That will be available for free to those who have tickets.
The game is also set to be televised live in the UK on free-to-air channel ITV, with the broadcaster having agreed to show the game before Jota’s tragic passing.
Explaining the club’s plans to commemorate Jota and Silva, Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan said: "It is early, it has obviously only been a few days. I think the most important thing in this process is that we want to make sure we are respecting the family.
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"As a club, there’s been lots of ideas and certainly within the supporter base lots of ideas. That’s something we’ll take forward with the family and we want to have those conversations at the appropriate time. Obviously they have gone through an unimaginable situation over the course of the last several days.
"We certainly will, obviously, remember both Andre and Diogo, and at the appropriate time, we’ll make those plans clear. We’ve got the match on Sunday at Deepdale and we’ll of course remember them at that match.
"Then the tour, then we come back to Anfield and then the season starts, so we’re thinking about all of those moments. Of course, we want to make sure we do the right thing and appropriately remember both Andre and Diogo."
English (US) ·