Boot spotting: 6th August

Another week goes past, meaning the start of the Premier League season is getting ever closer. With teams starting to ramp up their preparation for the start of the new season, a lot of players are breaking in their boots for the new season too. Soccer Reviews has collected only the finest boot spots from this week’s action that are making waves through the boot community!

Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid) – Nike Mercurial Vapor VIII (Custom)

We have not seen too many professionals in Europe wearing the new Seaweed Vapor VIII that have been released for the start of the 2012/13 season, but Cristiano Ronaldo makes himself one of the first athletes we have seen wearing the new boots in Europe. The Real Madrid star has been taken an interesting approach with the sole plate of his boots, opting to customise his boots with the sole plate from the Vapor VII. Many athletes have opted for a similar approach for years, so it is not overly rare.

Lionel Messi (Barcelona) – adidas miCoach F50 adiZero

So when we show off CR7′s new footwear, it is fair to show off the footwear of his Barcelona rival. While a lot of athletes are anticipated to be seen wearing the Seaweed Vapor VIII, Messi will be wearing his own colour way that will be his until mid-September. While other adidas athletes will be allowed to wear the UCL adiZero colour way after that date, Ronaldo will have to wait until later this year to be allowed to wear his own trademark football boots.

James Milner (Manchester City) – Nike CTR360 Maestri III

There are loads of athletes in the new yellow colour way of the Nike CTR360 Maestri III, so we want to feature an athlete in the alternative Red/Black/White colour way if we wish to throw in a CTR III boot spot. James Milner has decided to wear something a bit different from the rest of the masses this season in going for the secondary colour way of Nike’s latest update to their control boot. The Manchester midfielder has been wearing CTRs for quite some time now, so it is not a surprise he has moved to the new CTR III.

Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid) – adidas Predator LZ

Have adidas managed to pull off one of the biggest boot switches of the pre-season? Despite being one of Nike’s big athletes (and having an integral part in Nike’s ‘My Time Is Now’ campaign for the EUROs), Real Madrid midfielder Mesut Ozil has been seen pulling out a pair of Predator LZs as opposed to the Mercurial Vapor VIIIs he was seen wearing just days earlier against LA Galaxy. We will definitely keep an eye out for further developments.

Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea) – Nike T90 Strike IV (Custom)

Boot switches are a staple of pre-season boot spotting articles, and Romelu Lukaku is one player who is kicking off the new season in a different pair of boots. While the young Chelsea striker played in miCoach F50 adiZeros for much of the 2011/12 season, he has since moved on to the T90 Strike IV. He did feature in one or two of the pre-season matches in the ‘Clash’ T90 Laser IV, but he has now been able to secure a customised pair of T90 Strikes in a clean White/Black colour way.

Ritchie De Laet (Leicester City) – adidas adiPure 11Pro

We love it when adidas release whiteout and blackout versions of their boots, and while it is normally done at the end of a boot’s lifetime to suggest it will soon be replaced, adidas made the strange move in releasing black and white out colour ways onto their adiZero and adiPure boots a few months ago. We think the whiteout and blackout adiPure 11Pros look really classy, and Ritchie De Laet must have thought the same thing, as he is one of very few athletes wearing the whiteout version of the boot.

Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City) – Mizuno Wave Ignitus II

Manchester City may have won the title last season, but it is fair to say Roque Santa Cruz did not have a massive impact on Manchester City’s title winning campaign! The Paraguayan will be hoping to get more game time this season in his Mizuno Wave Ignitus IIs, with the former Blackburn striker being one of few player wearing the White/Red/Black boots. Keisuke Honda is the main player for the boot range, but is currently wearing the Green/Black/Orange colour way.

Giovani Dos Santos (Mexico) – Nike CTR360 Maestri II (Custom)

We sometimes are a bit unsure when it comes to identifying a blackout boot, but there are one or two hints left behind by Giovani Does Santos that suggests he is wearing CTR360 Maestri IIs. First up, we can make out the pass pad on the instep of his boots. Plus the blue lining on the heel of his boots suggests Dos Santos has blacked out the ‘Clash’ CTR360 Maestri IIs. He is not unfamiliar with blackout CTR boots, the Mexican is normally seen in a black out pair of Nike’s control boots.

Jem Karaca (Reading) – adidas Predator LZ SL

A lot of players have been seen in the regular Predator LZ, and much like what happened with the adiPower SL, not many athletes have been seen in the SL version of the boots. Reading’s Jem Karaca is the first athlete we have seen so far in the Predator LZ SL, a boot that weighs in at just a touch over 200 grams. It is an interesting choice from the Reading player, when we reviewed the LZ SL, we found it to be little more than an adiZero with rubber pieces stuck onto it…

David Sobisek (Viktoria Zizkov) – Nike Mercurial Miracle I

Rare boots and players wearing lower tier boots are always a certainty to appear in Soccer Reviews’ boot spotting articles when we see them, but David Sobisek has combined both of those prerequisites into one boot spot for us! Not only is the Viktoria Zizkov footballer wearing a lower tier model of the Mercurial boot (one tier below the original Vapor VII), he is wearing the very rare Black/Silver/Pink Miracle I. This colour way was a limited release on one or two online retailers in the UK, so we believe this is where Sobisek grabbed his boots from.

That is it for this week’s boot spotting. What was your favourite boot spotting this week? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.