Best Man Utd kits ever
- Man Utd's Premier League kits are synonymous with success
- We look back at some of their best offerings since the Premier League began as players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Eric Cantona and Robin van Persie become icons
- Club has donned iconic home and away kits
By Euan Burns
New football kits are a lot like the transfer window. There are some fans who simply could not care less and those who have a real interest in the latest threads.
There are few clubs in the world that sell shirts at a volume like Man Utd and that is largely down to past success. Kits become iconic with big games, trophies and players and many football fans can look at an old Man Utd top and immediately name at least a handful of players who wore it.
While success has been harder to come by in the wake of Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement, the club has continued to produce kits well worthy of appreciation.
Here are the best kits Man Utd have produced since the Premier League's inception.
Best Man Utd kits ever
15. 2015/16 home
This shirt had a really good blend of interesting details and clean areas.
It's not easy to make a good top with an ugly gold Chevrolet logo slapped in the middle, but this was a good effort from adidas. The white cuffs looked good and the collar was well-fitting.
It is unfortunately synonymous with Louis van Gaal's tepid football at United. However, it is also a kit Bastian Schweinsteiger wore and the one Rashford burst onto the scene in.
Clean kit and it birthed a blossoming superstar; one of the club's most important figures in the post-Fergie landscape.
14. 2013/14 away
The club subtly attempted to remain in a Fergie world with the design of their 2013/14 away kit. The navy check pattern was identical from the home kit's design the season prior - Ferguson's last at the helm.
While United's midnight navy gingham away kit will always be associated with David Moyes and his dreadful attempt to complete the impossible task of succeeding the club's greatest ever manager, you can't deny that it's a clean-looking shirt.
Oh, and Patrice Evra scored an absolute thunderb*stard in it at the Allianz Arena.
13. 1992-94 away
Umbro certainly opted to kick off a new dawn with a bang as they started the Premier League era by celebrating Newton Heath with his garish half-and-half away strip.
You'd usually associate a yellow and green combination with a court jester from Tudor times (or Norwich City) but it's lunacy it's what made it. The kit launch, which focussed around recreating Newton Heath team photos from the late 19th century, was a stroke of genius, and the club's early Premier League success means this distinct shirt is remembered fondly.
12. 2000-02 home
The Vodafone shirts at Man Utd were worn by some incredible players, so naturally Premier League title success followed.
This was back when kits were often worn for more than one season, so they played in this during 2000/01 and 2001/02 as the Red Devils finished first and third respectively.
Paul Scholes, Laurent Blanc, Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy and David Beckham all showed off this clean offering from Umbro, with the black trim making them look particularly menacing.
11. 2022/23 home
Man Utd's 2022/23 home effort definitely split opinion but there are some superb details that were too good to ignore.
The Team Viewer sponsor is much cleaner than previous designs, the collar gave Scott McTominay the chance to do his best Eric Cantona impression, and the lines on the shoulders really suited some players.
United also won their first trophy since 2017 with this strip by winning the Carabao Cup.
10. 2016/17 away
You may always associate Man Utd with red, but many will remember some of the club's grandest European successes occuring while the side was donning blue.
There have been superior iterations to the 2016/17 away kit, but this was nonetheless a fine-looking and simple strip which hit all the right notes. Its gradient design proved to be pioneering, and it was the shirt worn during United's 2017 Europa League success under Jose Mourinho.
Wayne Rooney also scored his 250th goal for the club while strutting around in the blue he would've grown familiar with from his Everton days.
9. 2010/11 home
Is this shirt ranked in the top ten because of its pure design or the quality of the team that wore it? Either way, it makes the cut.
While the badge was slightly too small, the rest of the top was sharp with a good collar.
Dimitar Berbatov and Wazza strutted their stuff in it while winning the league and the Community Shield and also reached the final of the Champions League.
8. 2019/20 home
United did well to make a kit look this good with the Chevrolet logo.
This one was a throwback to 1999 and the gold badge was a brave detail. It seemed to grow on people throughout the campaign and is also associated with some of the great football United played under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
They finished third in 2019/20 and reached three different semi-finals. The season felt like genuine progress and Marcus Rashford was superb by grabbing 17 Premier League goals.
7. 2012/13 home
There is one man who is totally synonymous with this Man Utd shirt.
Robin van Persie ripped the Premier League apart in this shirt and delivered United's most recent Premier League title to date.
It was also Sir Alex Ferguson's final season in charge and his team walked to the title, securing it with a special win at Old Trafford against Aston Villa. The checkered pattern was a nice change and looked very sharp, while the black collar looked great under the lights.
6. 1994-96 home
One of the two most iconic Man Utd kits with the Sharp sponsor, this shirt actually had Old Trafford on it.
You had to squint to see it, but it was there and that was innovative. It can't have been easy to get the stadium on the shirt, so it's little wonder they only wore it for two seasons.
5. 1993-95 away
How good are all black kits, seriously? Those pesky referees and their attire ensure such designs are produced infrequently, but, my word, they look wonderful when they're crafted.
United's daunting all-black away strip first worn in 1993 was fitting of their early Premier League presence. The Red Devils were an imperious counter-attacking force, with teams often getting overwhelmed by streaks of black shirts pouring forward on transition.
This was the first black kit ever worn by the club, but the ubiquity of retro football shirt outlets ensure it certainly has a legacy. It's certainly a popular choice for not just United fans.
It was the shirt worn by Eric Cantona when he infamously kung-fu kicked a spectator at Selhurst Park which earned him a lengthy ban. Good times.
4. 2006/07 home
Some people weren't sure about this strip at the time, but the gold trim won people around once United started winning. There was gold outlining on the body of the shirt and it also ran around the badge that had a white background.
The white cuffs and v-neck collar were really clean and there was some superb football played in it. Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo got 23 goals each this season as United won the league.
3. 2008/09 away
We mentioned United's European success in blue earlier, and the Red Devils were the designated away team in the 2009 Champions League final. However, the presence of blue on Barcelona's home shirt forced United into white. They couldn't wear this beauty.
It's utterly divine. The royal blue boasts an air of sophistication and class; fitting for a club so wonderfully dominant during this time. The AIG sponsor is iconic, and we saw the very best of Cristiano Ronaldo in this shirt.
Who can forget his free-kick against Arsenal at the Emirates which helped United into the aforementioned Champions League final that year? They surely would've beaten Pep Guardiola's Barca had they been donning royal blue...
Okay, maybe that's a stretch too far. Superb kit, though.
2. 1998-2000 home
The greatest Sharp kit that there was. Millions of fans would love to get their hands on one of these and would pay a lot of money for it.
Man Utd won the treble in this shirt and the Umbro detailing down the arms and onto the shorts was brilliant.
The collar was iconic, the badge looked wonderful and some of the greatest players in Man Utd's history wore it.
1. 2007-09 home
The last time Man Utd used a shirt for more than one season and it's clear why.
This is the cleanest shirt United have had in the Premier League and there is no ignoring that the football they played made it look even better.
A simple design from Nike took attention away from the sponsor with no unnecessary details. The gold Premier League patches added some prestige as Ronaldo and Rooney ran the show.
The Premier League was won twice in this shirt, along with the Champions League, the League Cup, the Community Shield twice and the Club World Cup.