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Manchester United will mount a massive through-the-night operation on August 1 to strip away every Nike swoosh inside and outside Old Trafford.

Plans are already under way to remove all trace of Nike’s sponsorship, with United switching to their new £750million kit sponsor adidas once the agreement with their American rivals runs out at midnight on July 31.

Scores of workers are being lined up to descend on the stadium, club Megastore and Aon-sponsored training complex with senior United officials admitting it was a “mammoth” task to change the branding at all three locations.

But although the military-style operation will be costly and could mean the Megastore being closed for rebranding, United will still be quids in.

For the lucrative club Megastore, which was handed over to Nike in 2002 as part of a £303million deal, is being taken back by the club.

And that means shirt and kit revenue as well as sales of all United-branded merchandise once again becomes a revenue stream for the club.

Over the last decade United have been on a profit-share scheme, with Nike taking a slice of profits above a certain level.

(Image: Michael Regan)

Now all Megastore profits are their own again – although United will have to pick up the costs of staffing the shop and buying stock.

I understand one of the first jobs will be to erase the huge Nike swoosh currently across seats in the East Stand. That will be followed by the removal of Nike branding on the middle tier of some stands as well as in the Red Cafe restaurant, club museum and at the Carrington training complex.

As Sunday People Sport recently revealed, United are also planning to take both Nike and adidas kits on their tour to the USA, which may run beyond July 31 when the Nike deal expires.

An Old Trafford source said: “The size of the operation to change from Nike to adidas is huge. We have never undertaken such a massive change-round and it will be a challenge to get it all done as quickly as possible.

“For 13 years everything has been about the swoosh – and it’s everywhere at Old Trafford. The players will leave for the pre-season tour to America with Nike still all over the training ground and Old Trafford.

“But when they return in August all they will see is adidas branding. Every tick will more or less be gone, apart from pictures around the stadium and Aon complex of the players celebrating title wins over the last 13 years.”