According to Mat Kendrick, Aston Villa have signed a club-record-breaking £15m deal with Italian kit manufacturer Macron. This has been rumored for a few weeks now, and on the face of things looks to be a very favorable deal for Villa. Though £15m seems paltry in comparison to the £150m deal recently signed by Liverpool with football newcomers Warrior, it's still quite a haul for a club outside of the traditional Premier League elite. Though Macron manufactures the kits of several big Italian clubs, Villa will be one of their most high-profile clients in England with only Championship clubs West Ham and Leeds coming anywhere close in terms of name recognition. That will be a major contrast to Villa's also-ran status with current kit manufacturer Nike.
I personally am a big fan of several of Macron's kits; all three of Napoli's shirts are gorgeous, FC Lorient's home and away are simply flawless and if you're looking for an encouraging sign that Villa's color scheme will be in good hands, might I recommend West Ham's current away shirt? You'd really be hard-pressed to find any kits currently manufactured by Macron that are legitimately ugly, and the vast majority are really quite sharp. I have a good feeling about this new partnership.
There is, however, one thing to be wary of; while football shirts do not, as a general rule, flatter those of us that are of *ahem* ample proportions, Macron is in particular a manufacturer that tends toward an "aggressively fitted" style. So if you're planning on picking up next year's shirt, I'd recommend hitting the gym and going easy on the snacks. Richard Dunne, I'm looking at you.