Roma Removes Nike Gear From Club Store, New Balance Reveal Imminent

As excited as we all may be by Euro 2020, the transfer market, and the arrival of José Mourinho, they all pale in comparison to the long-awaited reveal of Roma's new kits; the first in a multi-year partnership with American manufacturer New Balance. Ordinarily, most clubs reveal next season's uniforms on the final day of the season, but with Roma changing manufacturers ahead of the 2021-2022 season, we were robbed of that rite of passage.

While nothing has yet been revealed, and indeed all previous leaks were quickly debunked, if you cruise on over to the official club online store, you'll notice a conspicuous absence: the complete and utter lack of any Nike gear—no shirts, no tracksuits, no socks, nothing, bupkiss, nada.

We still don't have any inclination when Roma will drop their first New Balance collection, but speculation holds that, because the Nike deal presumably officially expires on June 30th, the club had no choice but to wait until the end of this month, which also happens to mark the end of the 2021 fiscal year.

That could all be a coincidence, but it has led the Corriere dello Sport to report that Roma will officially unveil the new kits in the “coming days”, with the home strip likely to get the first honors. The CdS continues to speculate that the remainder of the 2021-2022 line—which reportedly includes four different kits—will be made public sometime in July after José Mourinho officially begins his first summer training sessions.

Since New Balance remains a minor player in the global footballing marketplace, we don't know the extent to which the Massachusetts-based manufacturer will employ standard templates like Nike, Adidas, or Puma, but they did recently reveal their new Porto line for next season:

If you know anything about me, you know I hate brand logos and advertising, but if you can set aside the rather garish ‘NB’ logo (I never thought I'd long for the swoosh!), these are pretty simple, clean, and classy kits. We have no earthly idea if New Balance will get creative with their first Roma drop, but something tells me they'll play it safe with the standard home and away shirts, though you may recall a story late last year that pointed towards a return of the ‘ASR’ badge on at least one of the new shirts—so keep an eye out for that.

We'll keep tabs on this and pass along any viable leaks that may find their way online over the next few days, but if the CdS is correct in their assumption, we may get the real thing in a week's time.