Aston Villa’s new jerseys have reportedly become a major issue at the club, with players feeling their ultra-absorbent design is having a negative impact on their performances.
The issue can clearly be seen in any Villa game. After several minutes of play the kits, manufactured by Castore, become sopping wet as players’ sweat is soaked up.
A source told The Telegraph: “The players are having to play in soaking wet t-shirts and it is a problem that needs to be solved. It cannot go on all season. The players look like they’ve jumped in a swimming pool after about 10 minutes.”
Per The Guardian, the club has approached Castore and demanded new kits. But before any new design can arrive, this weekend will see a new issue for Villa as its women’s team begins Women’s Super League play.
“This is going to be a big problem,” pundit Jacqui Oatley told the BBC.
“They’ve got four TV games coming up,” said Oatley. “Normally they’d absolutely relish those games and look forward to them. But they’re actually dreading it because they’re really conscious about how they’re going to look in this wet, clingy kit — for obvious reasons.”
The Villa women’s team has played some of its preseason matches wearing training tops, rather than its new kits.
“You can imagine, as a female athlete, you have plenty enough to think about just being the best you can be on the football field without thinking about getting sweaty and your kit clinging to you, both from a performance aspect as it is with the men but also from an aesthetic aspect,” Oatley added.
“And, as we know, women are different specimens when it comes to our bodies and it can really affect us and how we perform if we’re constantly thinking about how we look, or a top might be clinging to our breasts and also our body shapes.
“These are genuine issues for women which you would have thought somebody would have thought through before they released this kit.”
Villa signed a multi-year deal with Castore in May 2022.
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