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Manchester United have confirmed their away kit for the upcoming 2026-27 season – days after Red Devils fan Stormzy appeared to leak the shirt by wearing it to the World Cup final.
The London-born rapper is a long-time and high-profile Manchester United fan, and he was allowed to take it one step further with seemingly exclusive access to the new blue shirt.
Fans initially had to take a second look to believe their eyes when the rapper posted pictures of himself wearing the kit in New York to Instagram, although Stormzy appeared to confirm in the caption of his post that he was wearing the unreleased shirt.
‘(Manchester United) you’ve seen it here first,’ he wrote, later sharing another picture of the shirt as he posed next to Manchester City fan Noel Gallagher at an adidas event.
On Tuesday, Man United shared a picture of Stormzy wearing the shirt with the message ‘spotted (eye emoji)’ – hinting at the release to come.
Stormzy was the first to wear Manchester United’s new away kit when he took in last weekend’s World Cup final
The club officially launched the jersey on Wednesday and will debut it at their second pre-season friendly
The distinctive royal blue colour is an homage to the 1988 third kit worn by the Manchester side
The club formally announced their away kit with a launch on Wednesday, sharing images of the collection with the statement: ‘Always bold. Always brave. Always United.’
The eye-catching blue jersey with red and white stripes as trim on the collar and shirtsleeves is a nod to Man United’s iconic 1988 third kit, which similarly featured adidas’ trefoil logo.
The blue and red colour combination was also famously used for the club’s away kit during the 2005-06 season.
The jersey also features a subtle waved design on its fabric, which is described as representing the local River Irwell, ‘connecting fans and players to the heart of Manchester’.
Man United will debut the kit on Friday, for their second Nordic pre-season friendly against Norwegian side Rosenberg.
Michael Carrick lost his first match as Man United’s permanent manager when his side played Wrexham in Helsinki last weekend.
The match did allow fans to get a first glimpse of new signing Andrey Santos, who completed his £50m move from Chelsea to Manchester earlier this month.
With a number of stars not yet returned to the squad after the World Cup, Carrick took the opportunity to play a number of young stars in the second-half.
Ahead of meeting Rosenborg, exciting young talent JJ Gabriel, 15, has been sighting in training, alongside Ayden Heaven and first-team star Patrick Dorgu.
Despite being just 14 years old at the start of the last campaign, Gabriel enjoyed an impressive campaign as part of the club’s under-18s side.
Gabriel was later named the Premier League’s under-18 player of the year, and the club’s under-18 player of the year for his contributions.
