It is said that jerseys generally set the tone and tenor for the football season and Arsenal, as is their wont, have launched their away kit in their own inimitable style.
The Premier League runners-up’s away kit for the new season has hit the Indian market with some fans very critical of the new colour.
This season’s away kit spots an entirely new look. If it was black last season, this time the North London club has gone for a slightly fluorescent yellowish one mixed with black and blue stripes.
It has a striking resemblance with the goalkeeper jersey worn by once Invincibles in the late 80s.
Traditionally, Arsenal have always gone with red and white as their No.1 jersey with occasional changes in stripes.
The second jersey keeps changing and last year they even spotted a novel black.
The away kit, which is on sale in metro centres like Bengaluru and Mumbai has literally divided the football world.
The Twitteratti went hammer and tongs as usual. While a few drew striking parallels with the one worn by Serie A giants Inter Milan, there were others who were very critical of the colour.
“I find this annoying on sight, I feel like tearing it with my teeth,” tweeted one bitter critic of the Gunners.
“Did we move from the black and gold kit to this nonsense? tweeted another disappointed Arsenal fan.
It did not there. “Most garbage Jersey on the face of this earth,” read another harsh tweet.
But there are many who hope the kit would be used more in the training ground than on the soccer pitch, while there were others who were trying to convince themselves that it could possibly be the away jersey and that it does not matter much.
Arsenal kits have always been a hit among the fans and aficionados alike. A couple of years back, when they unveiled a retro kit, it had become a huge rage with even Mollywood star Tovino Thomas wearing it in a song sequence in the blockbuster movie Thallumaala.
Arsenal have been known to be very choosy when it comes to their main jersey, but have always experimented with the away and third kits.
This season’s second kit also became a topic of discussion and varied interest as it spots a new light green colour. The new jerseys are likely to be unveiled during the pre-season tour of the US where an MLS All-Star match is also on the cards, or maybe even once the Gunners come back after the American sojourn.
Arsenal, who led the 2022-23 title race for most of the time before being pipped by Manchester City towards the end, begin their new season with a home game against Nottingham Forest on August 12.
