The gap between Liverpool and Newcastle United summed up perfectly as new deal announced ahead of Carabao Cup final

Newcastle United have been shut out of the 'big six' as the Premier League throws up rules left, right and centre to prevent the Magpies upsetting the status quo under their Saudi-backed ownership.

When the PIF took over at Newcastle United in 2021, the Magpies were slapped with the tag of "The Richest Club In The World", which, unfortunately, is far from the truth.

Yes, we have the wealthiest backers, but the club is unable to tap that resource due to the likes of PSR, Associated Party Transaction Rules and a little thing called 'Fair Market Value'.

That last one has crippled the PIF when it comes to negotiating sponsorship deals, especially when combined with APT which has already been deemed unlawful in its past guise, with Manchester City pushing to get it scrapped completely.

Newcastle have made massive strides with their commercial revenues

Despite the restrictions, Newcastle have managed to drum up some impressive commercial deals. The sleeve sponsorship with Noon was worth more per season than our front-of-shirt sponsorship with Fun88 for example, and then the deal with Sela was worth more than the kit deal with Castore.

Newcastle welcomed back Adidas as official kit partners in a much publicised and massively welcomed move with the Magpies signing a deal worth an impressive £30 million a year.

Aston Villa also dumped Castore and moved to Adidas with their deal worth a reported £17 million a year, so Newcastle did really well.

The Liverpool/Adidas deal shows how far we've still yet to come

Now, though, Liverpool have just announced that they too are set to welcome Adidas back this summer with The Guardian claiming that their deal is worth a reported £60 million a season, twice that of Newcastle's deal. It's also worth noting that Manchester United's deal is worth £90 million with Adidas.

Hopefully, by the time Newcastle's deal with Adidas is due for renewal in 2029, we'll be in a much better position to negotiate something akin to what Liverpool and Arsenal are earning - or even Manchester United. Let's get carried away.

For now though, this demonstrates perfectly that the gulf is still there, and this is a timely reminder of the hierarchy that the Premier League are so desperate to maintain ahead of Newcastle and Liverpool's meeting at Wembley on Sunday.

That being said, Liverpool can be kit manufacturer champions as long as Newcastle lift the Carabao Cup on Sunday.