LIVERPOOL’S historic kit deal has the potential to earn the club a massive £300million over the next six years.

Under the terms of the agreement struck with American company Warrior Sports, the Reds are guaranteed a Premier League record of £25million per year until 2018 – a total of £150million.

However, Liverpool believe they could double that amount as from this summer they will have full control over non-branded merchandise such as clothes from their fashion range.

Currently, kit manufacturer adidas has the rights to sell the club’s products abroad. The Reds only receive a percentage of sales and they have been restricted from opening up club stores.

But the deal with Warrior, which starts in June, only covers the playing and training kit, leaving Liverpool free to promote their other merchandise wherever they want and pocket all the revenue generated.

“Our business is split in two,” explained Reds managing director Ian Ayre.

“We have what you call kit, the branded products, the stuff the players wear and that’s the part of the business that the deal with Warrior covers.

“In our existing deal, there have been some restrictions in terms of the other unbranded, fashion-based products we sell. That sat within our deal with adidas in certain lines and in certain markets.

“In our new deal, we have complete control of that. We will still work with Warrior, but we will have a much wider opportunity. That area of the business currently represents 50% of everything we generate so we still have another opportunity to develop similar kinds of revenues and that’s what encouraged us.”

Asked if the change is likely to see Liverpool open up club stores in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Norway where they enjoy huge support, Ayre said: “Very possibly but what we have to do is make sure we get that right.

“Having lived in some of the far-flung corners of the world, you have to get the balance right between a stand-alone Liverpool opportunity, an online opportunity and a partner-based opportunity. But the encouraging thing is we have the flexibility to find the right solution in the right markets under this new deal.”

Warrior Sports are well known across America as a sports manufacturer in ice hockey and lacrosse. This represents their first major football contract but Ayre insists that’s a positive.

“It’s not a gamble,” he said. “There are two elements to it. One is that a large proportion of any English football club’s business comes from the UK and that’s a fairly defined distribution market. Then in the international market, Warrior, under the New Balance banner, are very well known and well established.

“What really encouraged us is that this is their first foray into football and so we are their only customer and they will be very focused on Liverpool Football Club and promoting this opportunity around the world.

“We think we have changed a lot here over the last few years. We have a different energy in terms of going global and reaching out and trying to capitalise on the size of the fan base we’ve got, so having a partner who has an equal ambition, we think that’s a good way to go.”

Liverpool, who sell around a million shirts globally each year, have more than doubled the £12million per season deal they currently receive from adidas.

The German kit suppliers’ chief executive Herbert Hainer has criticised the Reds for demanding a fee to sign up again that he says doesn’t tally with their on field performance.

But Ayre says Warrior won a hugely competitive battle to become the club’s new kit supplier and he insists adidas have had value for money over the past six years.

He added: “adidas have been and still will be for a period of time a great partner for us. They have had fantastic success with us. I’m happy that we delivered absolute value for a partner like adidas and we will continue to deliver that value for Warrior.

“We shared all the numbers with everybody we spoke to and I don’t think it would surprise anyone to know that Liverpool are one of the biggest merchandising businesses in football and we wouldn’t have had so many people interested if we didn’t have a great business.

“We ran a very exciting process over 12 months. We worked very hard to speak to every major manufacturer and we had winners and losers. Some people are very disappointed and some people are very happy.

“We’re very happy and Warrior are very happy and that’s what it’s really about. It’s about Liverpool Football Club finding the best partners it can, generating the best revenues it can to compete the best it can both on and off the pitch.”

Ayre admits the bumper deal will help Liverpool comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules which come into full effect in 2013/14 and will eventually force clubs to break even.

It follows the £80million four-year shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered which began in the summer of 2010.

“This comes at such an important time when everyone is looking through a microscope at club revenues and making sure you spend what you earn - so the more we earn the better,” Ayre said.

“It is part of our overall challenge: we have to generate as much revenue as possible to compete at the highest level. Particularly with the introduction of Financial Fair Play these deals are landmark deals. They feed the coffers that help us to be a sustainable football club and that is something we will always be focused on.”