Linford Christie leaks picture of new Arsenal kit

FORMER sprinter Linford Christie appears to have unwittingly let the cat out of the bag with regards Arsenal’s new Puma-made strips.

Linford Christie tweeted this picture, which appears to show Thierry Henry in the new Arsenal kit. Picture: Twitter

The Barcelona 1992 champions tweeted a picture of himself, with former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry and current players Bacary Sagna and Olivier Giroud, titling it ‘My footballing buddies’. The Frenchman is wearing what appears to be a Puma-branded Arsenal home shirt, with countryman Giroud sporting a new training top. Defender Sagna is wearing a hooded sweater with the Arsenal badge on the front.

Christie deleted the image shortly after posting it, but several Twitter users picked up on the tweet.

Jules Wheeler, tweeting from account @TheRealGunner said: “I suspect it’s all kicking off at Puma thanks to Linford!”

@MassMarioni added: “Linford Christie may struggle for an invite to the Puma Christmas party after that one...”

Arsenal agreed a bumper £170 million kit deal with Puma in May this year, with the German firm set to replace Nike, who have supplied the Gunners with strips since 1994.

The new Puma kits will be worn from the 2014-15 season, with Arsenal set to pocket £30 million a year for five years from the company.

Despite fan designs and Photoshop efforts sparking rumours of clubs’ new strips, Christie’s speed at deleting the image along with Arsenal legend Henry wearing the kit suggest this might be the real deal.