Boot spotting: 23rd April

From England to Brazil, and from Portugal to America, Soccer Reviews has found the hottest boot spots from this weekend’s action. There was a wide variety of wonderful boot spots this weekend, from retro boot spots, customised boots and everything in between. Which spots made the harsh Soccer Reviews cut this week?

Hulk (Porto) – Mizuno Morelia Neo

The Mizuno Morelia Neos have hit the market by storm. They have revolutionised the Morelia range, weighing in at an impressive 170 grams. They’ve also got Brazilian striker, Hulk, as their headline player. While in the past couple of months he’s been wearing the green/black/red launch colourway, Hulk switched into the unreleased dark blue/yellow colourway that we hope to see on shelves soon!

Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid) – adidas adiPure IV

While the adiPure 11Pro has been the adidas’ latest boot to get an update (Predator LZ hasn’t been officially released yet), not everyone has switched into them. A few weeks ago, we saw that the headline player of the range, Bastian Schweinsteiger, has been wearing the old adiPure III. Xabi Alonso made a similar move to the old Black/White/Blue adiPure IV. Could the lack of a kangaroo leather upper be putting the players off the adiPure 11Pro?

Nani (Manchester United) – adidas Predator LZ

Along with the Nike Mercurial Vapor VIII, the adidas Predator LZ is one of the hottest boots on the planet at the moment, and it hasn’t even been officially been released yet! The latest Lethal Zone that has been unveiled is the ‘Sweet Spot’, which is designed to generate greater spin and power when kicking the ball. Nani and Samir Nasri were two athletes spotted wearing their LZs with the ‘Sweet Spot’ highlighted in orange, but we can’t work out why we haven’t seen Van Persie in the LZs yet.

Jo (Internacional) – Nike Mercurial Glide II

Remember Jo? The former Manchester City and Everton striker? Well he’s now back in his homeland, Brazil, and while seeing Jo in a pair of Mercurial football boots isn’t too extraordinary (he wore them through his Manchester City career), it’s not everyday that you see a professional footballer in a pair of turf boots! The pitch at Elias Aguirre Stadium in Peru saw many Internacional players to slip (mind the pun) into turf football boots, including Jo into his Mercurial Glide IIs.

Robbie Russell (D.C. United) – adidas Predator PowerSwerve (Custom)

While the Predator PowerSwerve remains arguably the most iconic Predator of the past few years because its got all the traditional Predator features (that is, the fold over tongue and the PowerSpine element), D.C. United’s Robbie Russell has removed one of the key elements of his Predators. He’s strangely cut off the fold over tongue of his boots. The tongue is meant to increase the surface area available for kicking but apparently Robbie Russell wasn’t a fan of it!

Jonny Evans (Manchester United) – Nike Tiempo Legend IV

While we’ve seen Jonny Evans wearing Umbro Speciali III Pros in nearly every training session over the past two weeks, he continually wears his White/Red Tiempo Legend IVs in games. Considering Umbro doesn’t all that many players wearing their boots, we’re sure they’re watching the situation closely. We’re sure Evans will wear the Umbro Speciali III Pro in a game soon, so we’ll keep you guys updated of any developments.

Albert Adomah (Bristol City) – Puma V1.815 Ferrari

We always wonder why footballers decide to wear limited edition football boots, especially the limited edition Puma V1.815 Ferrari being worn by Albert Adomah! The V1.815 took two years to create by the designers at Puma, who wanted to make the ultimate elite level boot. While most people that own these boots keep them locked away in display cases Adomah certainly doesn’t mind wearing these super limited edition Pumas. Marcos Riveros (Nacional) – adidas miCoach F50 adiZero

There are some colourways that you love the first time you set eyes on them. It may then come as a disappointment that it’s a women’s colourway. When we first saw the White/Red/Blue miCoach F50 adiZero, we loved it, then we found out it was a women’s colourway. While Riveros may be ridiculed for wearing a women’s colourway, I’m sure a lot of us would wear the boots if we had the option!

Lovel Palmer (Portland Timbers) – adidas Predator adiPower SL

adidas Predator adiPower SL boot spots are rare enough as it is, and it’s always a must have boot spot whenever we see a footballer wearing them! Lovel Palmer is the latest professional we’ve spotted wearing the boot that is said to be the perfect balance between speed and power. Lovel Palmer obviously thinks that the Black/Warning adiPower SL isn’t bright enough, as he changed the black laces for some orange ones. To be fair, while they may be a little bright, they suit the boot really well!

Derlis Orue (Nacional) – Nike Mercurial Glide II

Whenever we see an athlete in a scale down model of a football boot, we have to include it in our boot spotting articles! You’d think that the supreme professional footballers would demand only the top of the range football boots, but there are a few footballers here and there who go against the grain. Nacional’s Derlis Orue wears the Mercurial Glide II, which is 3 levels below the old Superfly III. We always have admiration for professionals who don’t wear expensive, top of the range football boots!

That’s it for this week’s boot spotting. Don’t forget to check out Isaac’s exclusive boot spot of the EURO 2012 Mercurial Vapor VIII colourway on the way out too. What was your favourite spot this week? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.