THE VITALS:

Team: Manchester United

Brand: Nike

Era: 2009-10 (Used for the 2009-10 Barclays Premier League season)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: EXCELLENT

These shorts still remain in excellent condition, even 10 years after their original release in 2009! The outer material is almost flawless as are the application, and the inner trunks also bare very little sign of wear.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Medium

Waist Measurement: 14 inches

Shorts Length: 17 inches 

Made in the final series of Nike’s ‘NikeFit’ collection in 2009; please be mindful that these shorts do feature inner trunks which make them a bit weightier than today’s series of shorts.

DESCRIPTION:

In what was Nike’s eighth season as Manchester United’s kit-supplier; they delved deep into the illustrious past of ‘The Red Devils’ for inspiration ahead of the 2009-10 season! The result was the ‘chevron’ series of kits! Whilst the home shirt was emblazoned with a black chevron; the away kit may in fact be the most memorable of the collection. While Nike had made respective black and blue alternate kits for United since the 2002-03 season; this was the first time in the canon that blue and black were used together, and the result was immense! Black formed the basis of the strip, however, the accents and most notably, the chevron was cerulean! The shorts would also follow suit, with the thick blue stripes down the legs complementing the black trunks!

THE SEASON:

Although Sir Alex Ferguson’s side would come into the 2009-10 season having guided Manchester United to a 3^rd successive Premier League title, the fallout of the defeat to Barcelona in the 2009 Champions League Final and the subsequent departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez left him with a rebuild following a tremendous 3 season cycle for the club!

The funds generated by Ronaldo’s world record transfer sale to Real Madrid were mostly allocated towards the acquisition of Antonio Valencia from Wigan, meanwhile, Michael Owen also arrived in a stunning coup for United!

Although United would be beaten by Chelsea in the 2010 Community Shield clash, the defending champions would successfully retain the Carling Cup when they beat Aston Villa on February 28^th 2010, and would enjoy completing the double over AC Milan in the Last 16 of the Champions League as they prevailed 7-2 over 2 legs; the latter contest also featured David Beckham’s return to Old Trafford!

With the team and Wayne Rooney in particular, surging, he would suffer an untimely injury against Bayern Munich which paved the way for an agonising quarter final elimination from the Champions League by the German giants and then a crucial league defeat to Chelsea which would contest United the title ultimately as Chelsea won the title by just a solitary point!

Despite the league and Champions League disappointments, there were plenty of positives to take from the season however; Wayne Rooney truly emerged as the team’s standout player following the aforementioned: Ronaldo and Tevez’s exits, as he scored 34 goals in all competitions before his injury on March 30^th 2010 and in addition to winning the PFA Player of the Year aware, he would also place in the PFA Team of the Year as would his team-mates: Patrice Evra, Antonio Valencia and Darren Fletcher.

There were also league doubles completed over: Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur and the team boasted the best defence in the league after conceding just 28 times! Lastly, their League Cup triumph was also the first time the club had ever successfully defended a major cup competition!

The notable players that season were:

Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Dimitar Berbatov, Danny Welbeck, Nani, Owen Hargreaves, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Park Ji-Sung, Antonio Valencia, Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra, Wes Brown, Rafael, Edwin Van der Sar