Liverpool away kit unveiled: Is this why Suarez wants to quit?

LAST YEAR it was Robin van Persie who modelled Arsenal's new kit before jumping ship and joining Manchester United. This year Luis Suarez of Liverpool could be about to follow suit.

The wantaway striker posed in Liverpool's new, and well-received, home strip last month before news of his desire to leave Anfield had emerged. Now new photos have been released of the controversial Uruguayan modelling the club's latest away strip, designed by kit manufacturer Warrior, which is rather less easy on the eye.

The design has even prompted speculation that Suarez only decided he wanted to leave Liverpool after being forced to don the garish shirt. After the launch Twitter was awash with derision, where the top was likened to a uniform from Star Wars or something designed on a ZX Spectrum.

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Yahoo!'s Dirty Tackle football blog says that the top "features a design that looks more like you're playing a game of Space Invaders. On an old Christmas sweater. While your vision's blurred".

It also poses a question: "Why would Warrior do this? And why would Liverpool let them?".

The design apparently reflects the 1981 away kit, and also incorporates aspects of the 1989/91 top. But the Daily Mirror suggests there is more of a link to 1984 by George Orwell thanks to the shirt's "nightmarish Room 101 quality".

And the paper can't resist a cheap gag about Suarez and magic eye pictures. "If you squint a bit and stare at [the shirt] long enough, a picture of Luis Suarez riding a dolphin magically emerges," says the paper, before adding: "No, he's gone."

Talksport joins in the fun, and suggests that any Liverpool fan seen wearing the second or third tops definitely will walk alone.

Despite the reaction of many, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers unsurprisingly welcomed the design. "A football strip fuses a team together," he said. "The fact that glimpses of the club's history appear in this kit is a really nice touch from Warrior."