Manchester United announces £20 million training kit sponsorship; the new "crown prince" cannot wear it! Tielemans confirmed for Saturday debut.

Manchester United officially announced on Tuesday that they have reached a training kit sponsorship agreement with a prominent British betting company, worth £20 million per season. This figure is a record for training kit sponsorship in football, but it represents a slight decrease compared to the club's earlier deal for the same sponsorship.

Manchester United stressed that this transaction will assist in investing in the reconstruction of the first team, with the goal of ending a 13-year wait for the Premier League title. Chief Commercial Officer Mark Armstrong stated: "This is a globally recognized brand with significant influence in the world of sports. We look forward to working with them to accelerate their global ambitions and create new opportunities to bring fans closer to Manchester United."

The club's previous training kit sponsor, "Tezos," had a contract worth £24 million per year. However, after the contract expired last season, they chose not to renew, leaving United without a training kit advertisement for the entire season. Insiders insisted that the reason for going "bare" was to wait until the club returned to the Champions League before signing a higher-value deal.

Premier League regulations prohibit betting brands from sponsoring match jerseys after the 2025/26 season, but training kits are exempt from this ban. This is the fourth training kit advertisement in Manchester United's history. In 2011, United became the first club to sell training kit advertising independently, with DHL as the inaugural sponsor. In 2013, AON took over, lasting until 2021, and they also ended the naming rights for the Carrington training ground.

Subsequently, blockchain platform Tezos surprisingly partnered with United, but it did not achieve the desired results, eventually choosing not to renew. Now, the new advertisement is in place, and players have already worn the new training kits during this week's training sessions. However, not everyone can wear them!

According to Premier League rules, players under the age of 18 are not allowed to wear jerseys or training kits with such advertisements. Therefore, the young talents like Manchester United's new academy "crown prince" Gabriel, who is only 15, can only continue to wear plain training kits.

But this is not a problem for Manchester United's new signing Youri Tielemans. The 29-year-old Belgian midfielder has already been training with the team for nearly a week. According to the Evening Standard, Tielemans will make his debut in a Manchester United shirt on Saturday, facing Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Tielemans is eager to get on the pitch as soon as possible, as BBC and the Manchester Evening News predict that, due to impressive preseason performances, another new signing, Andre Santos, and Mason Mount, who has switched to a defensive midfield role, are likely to start in the Premier League opener away at Hull City. Tielemans, who has confessed to idolizing basketball legend Michael Jordan since childhood, will need to impress Carrick through upcoming training and matches to earn a place in the starting lineup.

Under normal circumstances, the match against PSG would be a tough battle. However, Luis Enrique's side has just started their preseason, with this being only their second game, while Manchester United have already played three. Therefore, Carrick's team actually has a higher chance of winning. The Red Devils have almost all players back, with only England's Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo, and Argentine center-back Lisandro Martinez reporting next week.

This week, Manchester United admitted to season ticket holders that they had made a mistake. During their investigation into ticket touting, they underestimated the number of fans sharing season tickets, leading to some accounts being frozen. The club emphasized that the reason for the investigation was reasonable, as they found evidence of many "touts," such as 1,088 accounts accessed from a single device. However, fans sharing season tickets is allowed by the rules, and most accounts have been restored to normal.