The CMA has said that there are competition concerns over the sports fashion retailers’ tie-up, but Cowgill said that analysis is ”fundamentally flawed”.

JD Sports said: “The CMA’s provisional findings do not reflect the intensive and dynamic competitive reality of the UK sports retail market today, where a large number of retailers selling third-party brands compete not only with each other, but also with major online pureplayers and, most importantly, the increasingly powerful direct to consumer operations of the international brands themselves.

“The CMA has failed to recognise and accept clear evidence of the rapidly changing nature of this market, which has materially altered even during the period of the CMA’s review.”