Nike still losing players, but is this a problem? No more Neymar Junior or Sterling

One of the most egregious sports news of 2020 was Neymar's signing with PUMA, a deal that ended O'Ney's relationship with Nike after 15 years of sponsorship. But he is not alone in abandoning Swoosh: Robert Lewandovski has almost definitively moved to PUMA, Sterling has left Nike and even Ibrahimovic, without definitive confirmation, seems to have abandoned the American brand. It's not easy to think that Nike has so easily gifted some of its best players to major competitors, so one wonders what's actually behind Nike's strategy.  

It's also the footballers themselves who don't want to feel so bounded with a sponsor. Ronaldo and Messi have lifetime contracts with Nike and adidas respectively, but htey are practically from another generation. New talents, such as Sterling (born in 1994) or Alexander-Arnold (1998) - who have already changed some technical sponsors - prefer to have more independence and be less constrained to the image of a brand. Nike better prefer this more holistic than selective strategy, also because if football clubs still make the difference, then its position remains more stainless than ever.