Barcelona have reportedly rejected Nike’s design for a new away kit – because it is too similar to the colours of rivals Real Madrid.
Back in 2016 the La Liga giants agreed a £120-million-a-year extension to their long-running deal with the sportswear giants.
Now, according to Spanish paper Mundo Deportivo, Nike designed an away kit for the 2020/21 season which would commemorate the Catalan patron saint, St George.
The kit was mainly white with a red cross on the front – the like of which features on the club badge.
But it’s claimed Barcelona rejected the kit because it was too close to Madrid’s famed white home shirt. The two sides meet in El Clasico on Wednesday night.
The La Liga giants are no strangers to wearing white kits – back in the 1970s Johan Cruyff and Co wore white with blue shorts.
But the last time there was a hint of Madrid colours on their shirt was in 1992, when their Kappa kit featured white strips atop the sleeves.
But this caused a stir among the club’s supporters and has since been banned.
The cross of Sant Jordi, meanwhile, is reportedly controversial in certain non-Catholic countries.
Barcelona’s current away kit is an eye-catching fluorescent yellow but it remains to be seen what they will wear in seasons to come.