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As the new season draws ever closer new shirts continue to be unveiled. Arguably the biggest kit release over the past seven days was that of Italian side AC Milan. The “Rossoneri” unsurprisingly elected to stick with their trademark red and black stripes, which provides them with their nickname. The usual white away shirt and black third shirt were also released at the same time although the regularity was broken when it was announced new signing and former two time world player of the year Ronaldinho will be wearing the number 80 upon his back. With Dutch midfielder Clarence Seedorf already occupying Ronaldinho’s favoured number 10 shirt, the Brazilian decided on 80 as it was the year of his birth. Kit manufacturers Adidas have revealed they have so far received 11,000 pre-orders for replica Ronaldinho shirts. AC Milan’s opponents in the 2005 and 2007 Champions League Final Liverpool revealed their third shirt for the forthcoming campaign. The green coloured kit will be worn by the likes of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres as they travel around Europe. The shirt completes the Liverpool collection for the 2008/09 season with their traditional home and away shirts having already been released. Fellow Premier League sides to have made headlines in the kit business in the last week include Middlesbrough, West Brom and Everton. Errea, the company who manufacture the Middlesbrough kits have claimed the club’s new shirts are fully water resistant. By using nanotechnology, the manufacturers who pride themselves on scientific breakthroughs, have made the new shirts the first and only shirts to incorporate this knowledge. Furthermore the shirts are also resistant to all other liquids, so useful to prevent any spillages in the pub prior to the game. However, the kit releases for West Brom and Everton haven’t been as successful. West Brom remain without a kit sponsor and despite searching for a business logo to be adorned onto the blue and white stripes, the kit will go on sale without any sponsor the club have remarked. Fans buying the latest shirts will be able to have the sponsor’s logo welded onto their shirts at a later date, free of charge. Talks have reportedly taken place with Carlsberg, Ladbrokes and LDV although an agreement has yet to be reached. Everton FC are also having problems regarding their new kit. Umbro have decided to pull the original sets of 08/09 shirts after suffering problems with its Far East suppliers. The club though have promised the kit will be of the highest standard now the logistical problems have been dealt with. Further clubs to have released their newly designed kits are Fenerbahce, Bayern Munich and Ajax. To find out more head over to www.footballshirtculture.com. As July rolls into August it won’t be too long before the new kits are seen in competitive action.
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