It’s an exciting time of the year for football fans, particularly in the modern era, as rumoured kit designs for next season begin to emerge on social media and in the tabloids, given fans an insight into how their side may look next season.
For Arsenal fans in particular it’s all very new, with the deal with Puma only starting last year, and to be fair to the makers, this year’s Gunners kits were actually quite nice- with one exception (we’ll get to that later).
However, there has been some shocking proposed Arsenal kits floating around online in recent years and that will make Arsenal fans very worried. Whether these were actually planned to go into development is unknown- but you can be glad that they didn’t go ahead.
All except one that is, which graced our screens this season despite massive criticism when it first emerged last year. We’ll start with that one, shall we?
Hit the image below to see the FIVE worst leaked Arsenal kits of all time!
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This year’s European look
This bold design acted as third kit this season and was immediately slammed on social media when it first appeared last summer, given that the bizarre three-coloured stripes at the bottom look like what my Grandma’s TV shows when the box loses signal.
To make things worse, it quickly became dubbed the ‘cursed’ kit after Arsenal’s failed venture in the early stages of the Champions League and a 3-0 drubbing in the League Cup at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday.
It’s certainly not one fans will look back upon fondly…
Nike’s green proposal
Just be thankful this kit, proposed for the 2009/10 season, never went into development. It was a time when Arsenal were at the peak of their trophy drought and the star players were leaving. If this proposal went through, there’s no doubt other big names would have also walked.
When it comes to Arsenal, green is probably the colour you’d least associate with the Gunners- but for some reason Nike decided to elect this as the main concept for the kit, which is frankly just bizarre! Fortunately, it never came to fruition or saw the light of day.
Puma’s stripe plan
Compared to the others, this rumoured kit isn’t as bad but the stripes going across the top are very un-Arsenal like and are instead comparable to what you’d see on Liverpool’s home kit. Understandably, that didn’t go down too well.
Everything else about this kit works well and Arsenal are a proud club with a lot of history. The red and white combo is easy to do, just don’t go trying to do bizarre new things to shake it up. It’s just not a good idea.
Puma’s good awful brown number
Well, where to start? Firstly, what on earth is this?! Surely looking to be a throwback to Arsenal’s quality jersey that they wore during the last season at Highbury, this Puma effort gets it completely wrong and looks more brown than redcurrant.
On top of that, the redcurrant look was good for a year and was a nice throwback to Arsenal’s history at Highbury. However, it’s probably not one that can be revisited regularly as it would sort of ruin the whole concept behind it.
Next season’s rumoured look
We’ll finish on a kit that could go into production next season, with the image above showing what’s rumoured to be Arsenal’s home kit next year. Again, it’s probably a case of trying to do too much when it’s not needed.
The blue trim around the top of the shirt doesn’t look that great and the white at the top is certainly overdone. The new Premier League logo also looks disgusting but blame the FA for that, it’s not directly down to Puma.
What is down to Puma though is the blue shorts, just why? Arsenal have worn white shorts for the past century with their home kits for two reasons- it looks good and it just works with the design. Blue doesn’t, at all.
