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Fresh off bringing his home city their first championship in any sport in over 60 years, Lebron James is ready to tackle other obstacles. Well, kind of. The Cleveland Cavaliers small forward and greatest basketball player alive also happens to be a minority owner in Liverpool Football Club.
Since purchasing his shares in the club back in 2011, Lebron hasn’t been very publicly involved with the Reds. Although he did visit Anfield a couple years ago.
With Liverpool playing two preseason matches in California this month against Chelsea and AC Milan, James offered to “walk on” for the team.
“s/o to Coach Klopp & the Reds. Excited to hear you boys are heading out to the West Coast!! If you need a walk on, I got your back #YNWA #LFC Lebron posted on social media, along with a photo of a #6 Liverpool kit baring his name,” The King posted on a verified social media account.
Lebron James suiting up for Liverpool in a preseason friendly would no doubt be a publicity stunt extraordinaire, and Dejan Lovren, who wears LeBron’s #6 at Liverpool, wrote on Instagram that he’d happily give up his number, if needs be.
“If Lebron wants the number I don’t mind, he is the king,” Lovren said. This isn’t the first time Lebron James has had an impact on publicity/marketing for giant Northwest England Premier League teams. You’ll recall the famous Louis van Gaal billboard which spring up when LVG took over at Manchester United.
According to the Manchester Evening News: The poster in the city centre parodies City’s famous stunt welcoming Carlos Tevez after the former United striker defected to the Blues in 2009. So take that Manchester City! Welcome to Vanchester!
The poster was a publicity stunt set up a by a sports book obviously parodying this one below:
The original Welcome to Manchester poster was paid for by supporters of the Blues and was seen as a swipe at the fact United are based in Trafford rather than in the actual city of Manchester.
The billboard also strongly resembles this famous Nike billboard of Lebron James in Cleveland:
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication.
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