Back in November the first leaks were already coming out for Nike’s second effort at designing a Chelsea shirt. The plain blue of this season (inspired by the 1970s) has been reasonably well received and now a more daring Nike seem to be striking out in a new direction. Or a slightly more recent direction, to be exact.
Well, if you choose to believe the usually reliable FootyHeadlines.com, that is. They recently posted an image of the full shirt on their website, along with those of all 19 other Premier League teams.
⚪️ Confirmed - Nike Chelsea 18-19 Home Kit Leaked: https://t.co/F4leiBAjjZ
— Footy Headlines (@Footy_Headlines) March 31, 2018
The alternating red and white lines appear on both front and back of the shirt, according to FootyHeadlines. The collar has a subtle “vee” to it. Once again, there are no adornments to the sleeve hems. The base color remains Nike’s Rush Blue. Shorts are blue, socks are white, as they should be.
All of next season’s Nike shirts are reportedly based on a single Vapor Aeroswift 2018 World Cup template.
FootyHeadlines say the away shirt will be yellow, just like our 2014-15 kit. They’ve only posted a detail. The mock-ups that have been going around lately probably aren't too far off the final product however.
Leaked: Chelsea's 18/19 home and away shirts! Hit or Miss #CFC pic.twitter.com/JpAus5jwcL
— Breathe Chelsea (@BreatheChels) April 8, 2018
As for the third shirt, they’re still taking guesses at that one. One option may be a very light blue.
There’s no direct analog to this home design in Chelsea’s past. The closest is probably the 1983-85 shirt from Le Coq Sportif.
Chelsea 1983-85 home by Le Coq Sportif - https://t.co/XCMy2Pft7j pic.twitter.com/zc3FizWpHs
— Classic Football CFS (@classicshirts) April 6, 2017
If this season’s design is too bland for you, well, Nike certainly seem to have addressed that with more striking and assertive visual cues this time around.
As for when they will be released officially, last year it was on July 1st, but that was due to the adidas contract not ending until June 30. Normally, new kits are released in time for the final weekend of the old season, so that’s perhaps what we should be expecting.