Boot spotting: 9th January

Soccer Reviews has scoured through the football world to source only the best boots spots that we’ve collected for today’s boot spotting article. While the FA Cup was on show this weekend in England, we also saw the leagues in mainland Europe resume after their winter break. Which boot spots made it through the harshest boot spotting screening process on the planet this week?

Paul Scholes (Man Utd) – Nike T90 Laser IV (Custom)

Possibly one of the bigger stories away from the pitch was the return of the Ginger Maestro, as he made an appearance from the bench in Man Utd’s victory over the blue half of Manchester, which he did successfully without breaking someone’s leg. While we expected to see Scholes in the Kanga-Lite Red/White T90 Laser IV, Scholes’ customised sole plate has provided a good enough talking point. Scholes has stuck the old T90 AZT SG soleplate onto his T90 Laser IV, as opposed to the TPU one found on the current T90.

Mohammad Adnan (Brisbane Roar) – adidas F50 adiZero (Custom)

We prodded and probed this boot spot for quite a while, but we think we’ve worked out what Adnan is wearing. We believe it’s a Cyan F50 adiZero upper, but the soleplate is black, as opposed to the white found on the Cyan F50 adiZero. Which has led us to believe it is the soleplate from the Sun/Black F50 adiZero from the World Cup colourway range. We might be wrong, but that’s our best guess at what it is.

Cole Skuse (Bristol City) – Pantafola D’Oro 1920 Vitello

The FA Cup is brilliant in the sense that we see players we’ve never heard of before wearing boots that aren’t in line with the norm. Cole Skuse is a textbook example of this, wearing the Pantafola D’Oro 1920 Vitello, which is hand crafted from the finest calf leather to mould naturally to your foot.

Nolito (Benfica) – Joma Total Numero 10

When there’s a bit of mystery surrounding a certain boot, we normally have a bit of an idea of what boot it is. We’ll put our hands up and say we have no clue what Nolito is wearing here. The sharp eyes of Steven picked out that Nolito is wearing the unreleased Joma Total Numero 10, which is Joma’s attempt at making a boot for the control boot silo.

Massimo Paci (Novara Calcio) – Nike Tiempo Legend IV (Custom)

Even though a White/Green Tiempo IV colourway will be released later this year prior to Euro 2012, it seems Massimo Paci couldn’t wait that long and he’s made his own NikeID version of the colourway. We think the White/Green colourway will get a big player uptake once they are released, and they will look a lot like Paci’s NikeID boots.

Hamza Bencherif (Notts County) – adidas Predator PowerSwerve

The FA Cup also lets us to see quite a few retro boots, and this is certainly the case as Bencherif wore the old Predator PowerSwerve in the trademark Predator Red colourway. We still see the PowerSwerve as the last ‘real’ Predator boot, as it was the last Predator boot that still had the iconic fold-over tongue.

Jamie Vardy (Fleetwood Town) – adidas Predator adiPower SL

From an iconic Predator boot to it’s modern relative, it’s the first time we’ve seen an adiPower SL in England, and non-league player Jamie Vardy wins the honour of being the first person we’ve spotted wearing the adiPower SL in England. The juxtapose of the Predator PowerSwerve picture above and this adiPower SL spot shows how far the Predator range has come in the past few years.

Sido Jombati (Cheltenham Town) – Pantafola D’Oro Lazarini

In the lower leagues of football, it’s more common to see premium k-leather boots as players lean towards the touch offered by k-leather boots over the lightweight speed boots on the market. This could be the case here as Sido Jombati has settled for the premium Pantafola D’Oro Lazarini. Talk about colour co-ordination too!

Lloyd Macklin (Salisbury City) – Nike Mercurial Vapor IV

It’s, in my mind, one of the best boots ever released, and it’s always a joy to see the White/Blue Vapor IV. Non-League player Lloyd Macklin has kept his Mercurial Vapor IVs in brilliant condition as they are still serving him, even though the Vapor IV range was released nearly 5 years ago. Nike will be relaunching this colourway on the new Vapor VIII, something that we’re certainly looking forward to!

Diego Novaretti (Toluca) – adidas Predator adiPower (Custom)

It’s pretty hard to find a whiteout Predator adiPower on the market, so Toluca’s Diego Novaretti grabbed the white highlighter and coloured in the blue parts of his White/Blue/Warning adiPowers. We have to admit, with the little patches of blue and black remaining, they look brilliant!

That’s it for this week’s boot spotting. What was your favourite spot this week? And what is Nolito wearing? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below