By Chris Wright

Right. Straight off the bat, Pies would like to clarify that we’re not saying this is 100% definitely the design for Arsenal’s new home kit for 2012/13.

What we are saying is that this mock-up has been drafted by Arsenalinsider, who have a decent hit-rate on these sorts of things and who are also claiming to have been privy to a photo of the actual design courtesy of a deepthroat informant in the Nike camp and that they are willing to stand by their reproduction ‘such is the strength of belief in their source’.

Make of that what you will.

Here’s AI’s preliminary mock-up, which is just an altered version of an existing Arsenal strip, which shows that – along with the classic ‘red with white sleeves’ formation – Nike are hell-bent on tagging on a set of gruesome navy blue (they look black/dark grey on the image, but AI claim they’re navy) collars and cuffs…

Pies verdict? We’re remaining suitably dubious, but that’s nasty. Looks like an knock-off Egypt strip from the early 1990s. For Arsenal’s sake, here’s hoping it’s a wind-up.

Believe/cast aspersions as you see fit, but one thing’s certain; if this design actually comes to fruition, there’s going to be a lot of jilted Gooners out there. How can you get such an elegant strip so wrong?

Anyone out there a fan? Anyone?

[Image: Arsenalinsider]