Could this be Barcelona's home shirt for the 2016-17 season?

It is at this time of the year when the world’s sports brands begin to plan the production of next season’s shirts for clubs like Barcelona and Real Madrid. Designs are circulated and, occasionally, they are also leaked. 

That was the case last season when SPORT were able to reveal that Barcelona would swap vertical stripes for horizontal stripes — a decision which split fans. However, it has long been expected that Barça would switch back to vertical stripes for the 2016-17 season. 

A design leaked by ‘Footyheadlines’, a site which specialises in looking at football kits, would suggest that to be true. They posted an image on Monday of a potential new Barcelona kit, made by Nike and sponsored by Qatar Airways. The shirt has a collar and does indeed represent a return to vertical stripes. 

Only time will tell if this will actually be the Catalan side’s home shirt when next season kicks off, though.