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          Tottenham's new kit more proof that third jersey designs are wilder than ever in 2021-22

          Nike
          • Chris Wright, Toe Poke writerSep 16, 2021, 08:00 AM ET

          Tottenham Hotspur have revealed their new third kit for the 2021-22 season, and much like the corresponding away strip that preceded it, the club's latest offering is set to split opinion right down the middle.

          The shirt is a lively mix of purple and green, with a printed graphic and chevron pattern to form a hectic collage.

          According to manufacturer Nike, the design is deliberately disorderly as it was directly inspired by all the young, vibrant creative talent based in Spurs' local London borough of Haringey.

          The third jersey comes after Spurs' swirling psychedelic away kit, which was released in July. It shouldn't work, but Spurs came up trumps against the odds with this cosmic nebula of colour strewn across a dark blue background. We may have just been slowly hypnotised into thinking it's an agreeable shirt, but we're totally OK with that.

          - Buy Tottenham's third kit

          However, as for this latest attempt to break the mold with a similarly garish third kit, we'd venture that Spurs have gone one "wacky" strip too far.

          The Tottenham third kit is yet another example of the free rein designers have enjoyed this season when it comes to furnishing clubs with utterly wild, and in some cases completely unhinged, alternate uniforms.

          No longer does a club's third kit merely have to be a template design in an alternative non-clashing colour way. In fact, the current trend appears to be to use it to produce something consciously bizarre and unconventional, perhaps in a calculated effort to drum up a bit of buzz on social media.

          Several big clubs have adopted this approach this season -- some more successfully than others.

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          HITS

          Arsenal

          - Buy Arsenal's third kit

          A bolt from the blue directly inspired by the Gunners' cult classic "lightning" away kit of the early 1990s, this modern reworking of a fan favourite has proved an instant success among fans. Few clubs are doing retro-infused sportswear better than Arsenal at the moment. You've got to be good at something, we suppose.

          Bayern Munich

          - Buy Bayern Munich's third kit

          A loving tribute to the Alps of Bavaria and the stunning panoramic views they offer, Bayern's subtle blue-and-white third kit retains all the majesty and poise of those grand old mountains.

          MISSES

          Chelsea

          - Buy Chelsea's third kit

          According to the blurb, these grotty green-and-black splotches is meant to reflect the hubbub and noise of Chelsea's home city of London. The sewers perhaps?

          Barcelona

          - Buy Barcelona's third kit

          While very nice in its own right, many were quick to point out the logical fallacy of Barca creating a third kit using exactly the same colours and pattern as your home kit, but that didn't stop them releasing this jersey especially for the Champions League. That they lost 3-0 wearing it to a Bayern Munich team wearing their own, far superior, third kit was a kind of poetic justice.

          Liverpool

          - Buy Liverpool's third kit

          Inspired by the checkered flags that waved on the Kop in the 1970s, the Reds were ultimately left not with a timeless tribute to their famous terrace, but the result has been compared to the uniform of a fast-food restaurant and even a yellow household dust cloth.

          Manchester City et al

          In an ingenious time-saving move, Puma avoided the effort of drumming up a raft of new bespoke designs for Manchester City, AC Milan, Valencia, Borussia Monchengladbach, Marseille, Rennes, Shakhtar Donetsk, Fenerbahce, Krasnodar and PSV Eindhoven by simply lumping them all with the same one. The fact that the core design laid on for all 10 clubs was also incredibly low-effort and mediocre just served to compound the misery further.

          Juventus

          - Buy Juventus' third kit

          Just when it looked like Puma had scraped the bottom of the design barrel, along came Juventus to steal the thunder with a truly abhorrent third shirt for 2021-22.

          For a club synonymous with elegance and style when it comes to their classic strips, it's almost unthinkable that the Bianconeri be made to take to the pitch draped in such a grotesque eyesore.

          No wonder Cristiano Ronaldo wore it once and then never played for the club again.