The weather is getting colder, the domestic competitions keep providing shock results week in week out, and while some stars just cannot shift up to their usual high standard, there are other players who have made themselves stars as they have lit up pitches all over Europe this season. We are in the thick of things with football season, and that of course means boot spotting articles come along with it. From new boots to boot switches, check out this week’s big boot spots first with the Instep.

James Rodriguez (Real Madrid) – adidas F50 adiZero TRX

James Rodriguez Real Madrid F50 adiZero edited

James Rodriguez is certainly a touch unsettled when it comes to boots at the moment. The Columbian superstar made a few appearances in the F50 adiZero Yamamoto, before hitting the F50 Crazylight a week before he was supposed to. Now the midfielder has switched straight into the new F50 adiZero Supernatural which adidas released just in time for Halloween. Stars all over Europe made the change into the new F50 colourway, which is the final F50 to feature the tribal Battle Pack-style patterns on the upper.

Sergio Aguero and Gael Clichy (Manchester City) – Puma evoSPEED 1.3

Sergio Aguero and Gael Clichy Manchester City evoSPEED edited

Puma also got in with the new boot colourway game over the past week, with the Puma evoSPEED 1.3 receiving a rather gorgeous Black/White/Pool Green lick of paint. However, Puma evoSPEED spearhead Sergio Aguero gave the boots a snub for the Manchester Derby, with the Argentine scoring the solitary goal of the game in the Prism Violet evoSPEED that was launched at the start of the season. However, Gael Clichy ensured the new colourway got some exposure in arguably the biggest game of the weekend, after the Frenchman was a late subscription into the starting XI after Kolarov went down with injury before the game.

Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) – adidas Predator Instinct

Steven Gerrard Liverpool Predator Instinct edited

The F50 was not the only adidas boot to get a quick mid-season facelift this week, with adidas releasing yet another Predator colourway as they start surging towards the promised quota of 14 Predator colourways between it’s release and the end of the year. This time around, adidas played with a dominant ‘Solar Green’ upper that has been divided with a split over to a ‘Rich Blue’ for the back portion of the boot. The boot makes a statement out on the pitch, and Gerrard was one of a number of Predator wearers who rocked the new boots this weekend. I must admit though, I still feel Gerrard looks weird in anything that is not a black or red boot…

Samir Nasri (Manchester City) – Warrior Sports

Samir Nasri Manchester City Warrior Sports edited

Are we seeing a slight resurgence from Warrior Sports? The brand that had more ‘go’ than Park Ji Sung has had a bit of quiet 2014, but we think we are expecting Warrior to really start hitting their straps in the next few months. It will all start off with what looks like the signing of some big name footballers, with Samir Nasri, Aaron Ramsay and Adnan Januzaj all rocking a prototype Warrior boot over the past few weeks. From there, Warrior will unveil the boot that those very stars have been testing. Warrior have kept the boot under wraps, but we think it will only be a matter of time until the boot is revealed.

Cesc Fabregas (Chelsea) – Puma evoPOWER 1

Cesc Fabregas Chelsea evoPOWER edited

This is a rather fast boot switch. Despite being given the right to be the footballer who unveiled the Pool Green evoPOWER 1 to the world during last week’s monster Chelsea vs Manchester United clash (and many Puma endorsers rocking those very boots this weekend), Fabregas made the change into the Black/Red/White evoPOWER this weekend. The black evoPOWER was released quite some time ago, so it is strange that Fabregas is seen wearing what is an outdated colourway. In saying that, it could be a way of giving the colourway a bit more exposure, considering that very few players have been seen in the boot.

Mark Davies (Bolton) – Nike Mercurial Vapor Superfly IV (Custom)

Mark Davies Bolton CR Superfly edited

It looks freakishly close to the CR7 Superfly unveiled just a few weeks ago, but Mark Davies has gone and given his Vapor Superfly IV with a look that looks to be inspired by the boots of the Portuguese superstar, but with a lack of the glitter finish. Davies’ boots are about as simple as a pair of Mercurial Vapor Superflys are going to get, but there is something we are loving about the minimalistic feel of his boots.

Arturo Vidal (Juventus) – Nike Mercurial Vapor IX

Arturo Vidal Juventus Vapor IX edited

Cesc was not the only player to make the move into an older pair of boots this weekend. Even though Vidal has been happily wearing the Superfly IV since the start of the season (and throughout the World Cup might I add), the Chilean has made the sudden change into the old Vapor IX in the Neptune Blue colourway. The midfielder perhaps wanted to try something a little different, maybe he has an unexplainable feeling for the boots, but we will be keeping an eye on how long this will last.

Shaun Williams (Millwall) – adidas adiPure 11Pro Crazylight

Shaun Williams Millwall CL adiPure edited

While the SL boots released by adidas always went out with a bit of a whimper in the past, the Crazylight series of boots have come on to be somewhat more successful. There were some big stars that wore the boots last week, and a number of lower league players have also been seen following in the footsteps of players like Philipp Lahm, Oscar and James Rodriguez. Our pick of the bunch comes from Millwall’s Shaun Williams, who also decided to throw on a pair of yellow laces on his adiPure 11Pro Crazylight to give the boot that little bit more pop.

That is it for our boot spotting today, what was your favourite spot this week? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

 

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