Birmingham's £7.8 million sponsorship deal with Xtep is just the 'tip of the iceberg', says club chief Peter Pannu. Blues became the first English side to appoint a Chinese firm as kit and leisurewear supplier after striking a five-year agreement with the leading fashion sportswear brand in the People's Republic.

As part of the deal, a minimum of eight Blues matches will be televised on China's CCTV5 sports channel and players will participate in promotional activities for Xtep in China during the close season.

"This is a very exciting deal," Pannu, Blues' vice-chairman executive and finance, told the Birmingham Mail. "It is just the tip of the iceberg as far as what Carson Yeung is doing for us in China.

"There are various other ventures that are still being worked on which, at the moment, are too sensitive to talk about until they crystallize a bit more.

"The Xtep group has around 6,000 retail outlets in China, which we can gain access to, and with this link-up and our combined expertise, it can only help our star shine over there."

"Xtep are a leading brand in China," added Pannu.

"Our players will undertake product endorsements and that in itself can be an incentive for them to work hard and produce for the club on the pitch.

"Although there are no concrete plans as yet, if, say, one day we had a star like a Wayne Rooney then there could be a 'Wayne Rooney range', solely for our star player, across the whole of China available to 1.5 billion people."