Chelsea 2021-22 home kit leak brings back a touch of yellow

It’s springtime in football-land, and with no sponsor or manufacturer change for Chelsea this year, that means it’s time for some serious kit leaks as well.

As usual, Footy Headlines are bringing the goods, revealing a full look at the new Nike home shirt for next season. Technically, it’s a “prediction” but it’s supposedly based off a full description that was leaked to them. They’re giving it a 90 per cent accuracy confidence, which, given their track record, is good as gold really.

Obviously, the shirt is blue — “What else matters?” as an old adidas tagline used to say — with Nike calling this exact shade “Lyon Blue” (not lion blue). It looks a touch lighter than this year’s shirt, but that may be the effect of the zig-zag pattern throughout the body of the shirt. That seems a bit more noticeable than this year’s herringbone patterning.

For me, the coolest part of the shirt is the collar — gotta love a v-neck — and the yellow accents being used for the Nike swoosh and the stripe down the side. The Chelsea badge may not be monochrome yellow (there are two versions posted, one with the normal badge), but it does seem to have a brighter yellow outline than usual. But that just may be an optical effect.

If I had a criticism, I’d say a bit of yellow in the collar wouldn’t hurt, even if just a tab in the back. And hopefully the zig-zag pattern isn’t too aggressive. The subtle herringbone was pretty nice for this season, if we insist on doing patterns because fashion or something.

Footy Headlines expect both the shorts and the socks to continue the yellow accenting, alongside the away kits, which are expected to be yellow (and there was much rejoicing!). The third shirt won’t be as hilariously ugly as this year, instead it will be just more straight-up ugly with a combination of teal and neon red, but hey, that’s the life of third kits.

The blue with a yellow accent gives me a chance to post a couple photos of still the best home kits of my lifetime.

Dávid Pásztor

Photo by Rebecca Naden - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images