Liverpool’s most spectacular signings have often driven international shirt sales surges with examples like the additions of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and, most recently, Florian Wirtz boosting demand all the way from Egypt to Southeast Asia. If a big star joins the team and they do well, the supporters are desperate to have a jersey with that name on it. That one fan decision can result in a shift of several hundred thousand units, just to give you a single example. It is a huge commercial lever for a team that is one of the most dependable in a club’s arsenal.
Though the impact is not only felt in the domestic fanbase. The Arab world and Africa, in particular, became among the top-followed leagues in the world because of the presence of Salah at Liverpool, thereby exposing the football shirt to markets where they rarely sold in bulk before. A signing is not simply adding a player to the team; but in many cases also adding new territories to a team’s commercial areas.
Which Liverpool signings had the biggest impact on shirt sales?
Mohammed Salah serves as the most prominent representative. Having joined back in 2017 and promptly broken multiple goalscoring records, he quickly became the person whose name appeared most often on the Liverpool shirt worldwide, and the published accounts of the industry at that time attributed to him a sizeable growth in sales, especially in the Middle East and North Africa. The popularity of Mohamed Salah was such that his shirt was considered a best seller not only in Liverpool but also among the football fans who weren’t fans of a particular team.
The case of Virgil van Dijk illustrates an entirely different but no less impactful impact. The defender was bought by Liverpool for a world-record fee for a defender at that time in 2018, and his arrival demonstrated to the supporters that the club is ready to seriously compete with the other top teams, the type of signing that can change perception very quickly, but usually defenders do not sell much of their shirts, which makes it an exceptional fact that Virgil van Djk’s shirt sold and that shows the overall effect his transfer had on the club’s merchandise rather than his name individually.
New arrivals in the past years have continued the trend; it can be expected in the summer season when clubs are revealing their new signings. It’s a natural reaction by many football supporters to look for the name of the player that they had just heard about and buy the football shirt before the start of the season, because of this creating a temporary boost in shirt sales. A good example of the immediate commercial response to the signing of an expensive new player is the 2025 arrival of Florian Wirtz, who is among the most expensive transfers in the club’s history. The excitement over the customisation of jerseys ahead of the pre-season was really strong, which is the kind of response that a commercial team dreams of getting for an announcement of such a player joining their ranks, In particular if it’s one of the big signings.
Why do star players drive shirt sales so effectively?
The core is about identification and belonging. Supporters get a football top to become part of the club. And the presence of a particular footballer on it makes that feeling personal. The emotional connection intensifies if that footballer achieves great results, and the shirt is the medium of showing support for his success.
In addition, there is also a distinct geographical factor. Sometimes the arrival of a player from somewhere else could be of such a size that you can see a new market opening practically overnight, because loyalty to the nation is superimposed on that to the club. Salah was such a big deal all over Egypt and the wider Arab world that it became the standard case, but obviously, the exact same principle was at work when a club picked up a player who immediately started being the pride of his home nation.
There’s no doubt that the moment is also a big part of the story. The period of time during which a big signing can generate commercial activity is very condensed and intense; it takes place mostly right after the news of the signing is made public, and again, it gets renewed as the player starts to play well. So, clubs and stores have it covered in the sense that a brand new signature is usually presented to the crowd wearing the football jersey as the central element, just ready for the fans to make them unique.
How much does a Liverpool shirt cost, and what affects the price?
A current-season Liverpool home shirt typically retails in a standard price band for authentic replicas, with player-issue or authentic-fit versions costing more than the standard stadium version. Adding official name and number printing usually adds a further fixed cost on top, and premium or limited-edition kits sit higher again. The name on the back can meaningfully change what you pay.
There’s a practical decision here that catches a lot of buyers out. Printing a specific player’s name locks the shirt to that player, so if he leaves the club, the shirt dates quickly and loses some resale appeal. Van Dijk and Salah have proven durable, but plenty of fans have been left with shirts bearing the names of players who moved on within a season or two, which is worth weighing before you commit to personalisation.
For fans who want to browse the current squad’s options, a good retailer’s dedicated range of Liverpool shirts and kits makes it easy to compare home, away, and third designs alongside the different fit and printing choices. Vintage and retro Liverpool shirts occupy a separate market entirely, where prices depend on the season, condition, and whether the design is tied to a memorable trophy win rather than on any current player.
What to consider before buying a signing’s shirt
Before you decide to print a brand new signing’s name on a shirt, do check if the player seems settled. A young talent on a long contract who’s expected to be key to the team is a better choice for a personalised purchase than an older signing or one joining a club with a cloudy future, so to speak. The player’s name will eventually change and the shirt itself will keep its physical shape for a long time. A fan can save himself a disappointment by taking into account that his new signing doesn’t simply match the club’s needs and plans on a superficial level, but becomes an asset whose contribution to the long game of the club and the player’s role in it are more in focus than just the immediate thrill.
There is quite a big difference between the value of the jerseys of two types of players – the long-term player and a temporary player. A big part of the reason is that the former has time to accumulate sentimental value with the fan and, at the same time, his jersey will probably maintain its value quite well in the resale market even after he has left. Because of this, before you go ahead and order the printing, try answering yourself honestly: is the player in question one of those whose name you will still be proud of wearing when the excitement of new signings subsides?
