The latest kit leak to go viral on the internet is Puma‘s upcoming iteration of Manchester City‘s third kit for next season.
The German Sportswear has impressed fans so far with the recently revealed home and away kits for the Citizens.
Introducing a bit of red into the all-blue formula seemed to work for the home kit, while the AC Milan-inspired away variant offers up an attractive look.
So with 2 out of 3 in the bag, fans have been patiently waiting to be wowed away by the third kit.
Ahead of the official reveal, images of the kit have surfaced online, and the initial reception has been far from welcoming.
The new away shirt was already a throwback to a previous kit, and Puma has tried to replicate that effort by bringing forward another retro-inspired design.
As seen in these images, City’s third kit appears to pay homage to the threads the club wore during 1999’s play-off win at Wembley. The original kit featured an almost neon yellow, with black stripes running across vertically.
Using these features as a baseline, the modern re-creation introduces a faint green shade, with the three thick black horizontal hoops on the front. The primary colour is noticeably paler in comparison to the original, much to the chagrin of City supporters.
Aside from the unpleasant colour scheme, fans also had reservations regarding the stripes, especially since the back of the shirt includes just one, breaking the norms of symmetry and design cohesion.
Are we trying to break the record for the least amount of third kits sold in a 2 year span?
— sz (@SZ_ctid) July 29, 2022
We are puma guineapigs 🙄
— Karen Owen 🌹 🐝 🦈 SOCIALIST (@K4Owen) July 29, 2022
that one stripe at the back is killing me
— Romeo_451 (@MedAmineKarray) July 29, 2022
Mental the way someone was paid to design this
— Big Fella Yerry (@MainManMina) July 29, 2022
Finally, one I don’t need to worry about buying
— dcon.eth (@dconomics) July 29, 2022
How’d we actually manage to make a worse third kit than this? pic.twitter.com/p6HUmckxjO
— 🇳🇴🤖 x 🇦🇷🕷 (@CrustyFlacko) July 29, 2022
Some users online even stated that it was worse than last year’s third kit, which was universally detested for its jarring look. While others slammed Puma for not being serious about their kits in general.
By the looks of it, even slapping Erling Haaland’s name on the back won’t save this one.
