Aston Villa Away Shirt 2022-23 Castore Diego Carlos 4XL

Aston Villa Away Shirt 2022-23 Castore — Diego Carlos Printing, Chapter 1

For the 2022-23 season, Aston Villa signed Diego Carlos to bolster their defence — the Brazilian arrived from Sevilla with a solid track record and immense expectations at Villa Park. This Castore away shirt printed with his name is therefore literally a historical document: the first and only season of this centre-back under Steven Gerrard and then Unai Emery, marked by an early injury that makes this printing even rarer than you might think.

Shirt Details

Season: 2022-2023
Club: Aston Villa
Type: Away
Kit Manufacturer: Castore
Sponsor: CAZOO
Condition: 8/10
State: SLIGHTLY USED PRINTINGS — authentic wear of a worn vintage shirt, slightly used markings, shirt body in very good overall condition

What this shirt represents

The 2022-23 season was a pivotal period for Aston Villa in the Premier League. The club went through two managers in a few months — Steven Gerrard was sacked in October 2022, replaced by Unai Emery who brought his methods and gradually transformed the tactical DNA of the Villans. It was a season of rebuilding and repositioning, with a squad in full mutation and clear ambitions for the coming seasons.

On the pitch, the key players included Emiliano Martínez in goal — already a World Champion with Argentina in December 2022 —, John McGinn in midfield, Ollie Watkins in attack, and Douglas Luiz delighting with his vision. And then there was Diego Carlos, signed to solidify a much-needed defence, who suffered an Achilles tendon rupture early in the season, ruling him out for much of the campaign.

Moments etched into this shirt

Gerrard's sacking and Emery's arrival
In October 2022, Steven Gerrard was dismissed after a disappointing start to the season. Unai Emery took the reins and immediately made his mark: defensive organisation, intensity, discipline — Villa transformed under his leadership in just a few weeks.

Emiliano Martínez, World Champion at Villa Park
Mid-season, the Argentine goalkeeper returned from Doha with the World Cup around his neck. The welcome at Villa Park was euphoric, and "Dibu" Martinez instantly became one of the most emblematic figures of the modern club.

Diego Carlos: an injury, a printing that became a collector's item
The Brazilian defender suffered a serious injury at the start of the season, significantly limiting his playing time in this away shirt. As a result: shirts printed with his name were not widely circulated or worn in the stands — making this a particularly sought-after item by collectors of vintage Aston Villa shirts.

Authentic vs. Replica

An authentic shirt is the version worn or sold directly related to the actual season — not a reproduction made years later for the nostalgic market. Here, we're talking about the real deal: a shirt produced by Castore for the 2022-23 season, with the official Diego Carlos printing and the period CAZOO sponsor. Every detail is a precise temporal marker.

The advertised condition is 8/10 with slight wear to the markings — this isn't a shirt fresh out of its plastic box, it's a shirt that has lived. For a serious collector, this natural patina is a much more telling guarantee of authenticity than a perfect printing on an item of dubious origin.

Vintage size guide

This shirt is available in size 4XL, which is good news for larger builds often poorly served in the vintage shirt market. That said, be careful: Castore cuts from this era can vary depending on the model, and a football 4XL is not necessarily equivalent to a standard ready-to-wear 4XL.

Before confirming your order, get out your tape measure. Measure your chest circumference and compare it with the shirt's flat measurements. Add a few centimetres for comfort if you want to wear it normally — and a little more if you want to display it in your cabinet without ever putting it on. In any case, never buy a vintage shirt without checking the actual measurements.

Why have it in your collection

A Castore Aston Villa away shirt from the 2022-23 season with Diego Carlos printing is already rare in itself — British kit manufacturer Castore has limited production compared to giants like Nike or Adidas, and authentic copies are not common. But when you add the particular context of this player — arriving with much fanfare, quickly injured, absent from most of the season's images — the rarity increases even further. This is exactly the kind of piece that Premier League shirt collectors will be fighting over in a few years.

There aren't many in this condition. An 8/10 on an away shirt from a season so rich in events — change of coach, World Cup in the middle, tactical reconstruction — is a very honest condition for a piece of such historical value. The slightly worn markings? That's proof that this shirt existed in the real world, not in a box under a bed. That's what gives it its soul.

To go further

• Aston Villa - Wikipedia
• Football Kit Archive - History of football kits
• Premier League - Official Website
• UEFA - European Football

A Diego Carlos printing on a 2022-23 Castore away shirt is a combination you won't easily find — if it's your size, you know what you have to do.