Arsenal have unveiled their new Puma home, away and training kits after agreeing a club record deal with the German sportswear giants.
The Gunners had been sponsored by Nike for the past 20 years, but the American manufacturer faced a rival bid from Puma and either unable or unwilling to match the offer.
“This new commercial partnership represents the biggest deal in PUMA and Arsenal’s history” read a report on the official club website in January, with the Daily Telegraph claiming that the sponsorship is worth £30 million per season to the Gunners.
Nike were paying Arsenal just £8m annually, with the Gunners having previously been locked into low rate long term arrangements while they paid for the building of Emirates Stadium.
As a result, there have been a number of significant boosts to the north London club’s commercial arrangements over the last couple of seasons, enabling them to significantly up their transfer spending.
Arsene Wenger smashed the Arsenal transfer record when he signed Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid for approximately £42.5m last summer, and a big money move for Alexis Sanchez was confirmed by the club earlier this afternoon.
The kit was launched in a glittery ceremony held by Puma this evening, that included an impressive projection of the new kit onto the River Thames in London and a dramatic voiceover appearance by manager Arsene Wenger.
The club’s new home shirt doesn’t stray much from designs of previous years, with the bulk of the shirt being red with white sleeves, but the away shirt is more jazzy, with dark blue sleeves contrasting against the main yellow body of colour. The third kit combines light blue, dark blue and lime green.
The three kits have even been named by Arsenal, with the home kit crowned as ‘forever’, the away kit as ‘victorious’ and the third kit, which will be worn in cup competitions, as ‘future’.
Thanks to arsenal.com for the images.
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