Liverpool drops kit blunder as unreleased strip worn by Under-19s for pre-season friendly

Liverpool's U19s appear to have given supporters an early taster of the away kit for 2024/25 . So far, Nike has only released the home jersey, but eagle-eyed fans have spotted a different shirt in action.

This will be the last season of Nike kits, with Adidas expected to take over from next season . That will also presumably mean the end of the Converse collaborations , with the latest of those just released.

It's less clear where the change will leave the LeBron James crossover, although it may well come to an end too. Nike has a lifetime deal with the basketball legend, but he is also an FSG shareholder.

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In any event, there are two more official kits to be launched before Nike and Liverpool call it a day. Having released a pinstriped home jersey, it is yet to unveil the away and third shirts to fans, although there have been leaks online .

And now we have the biggest leak of all for the away kit. It comes from within the club itself, with the U19 team seemingly wearing the new away strip ahead of time.

Some of the U19s are still training with Arne Slot , as he awaits the return of more senior players. But those who are available are currently away at a rather novel tournament, competing in the Bundesliga Cup as the only non-German outfit involved in the pre-season competition.

It was a chastening start to the tournament, as the U19s lost 6-0 to Hoffenheim. The second game against Frankfurt was level at 1-1 when Liverpool players walked off over alleged racism , the second consecutive incident at the competition.

Naturally, getting to the bottom of that is the first priority. But meanwhile, posts on X from Jack Lusby showed the new kit getting its first outing:

It looks nice enough, although it has to be said that this latest glimpse only reinforces the notion that it's almost an exact replica of a New Balance number from a few seasons back. Still, that's not necessarily a bad thing, and we'll no doubt be able to make a more thorough assessment once official pictures come through.

Currently, there's no public date set for the launch of the away kit, a mostly-black number with some green trim. But you'd imagine that Liverpool and Nike would want to do it sooner rather than later now that these pictures are out there.

Liverpool.com says: A bit of an oversight from someone here! Maybe the assumption was that pictures from the friendly would not surface online, but that underestimates the voracious appetite for any kind of Liverpool news and updates.

Maybe if Liverpool wasn't one of the last two Premier League sides not to make a transfer, the kit detectives might have stayed off the case. Hopefully there's a shiny new signing on hand to model the kit when it gets launched officially.