While Robin Van Persie certainly stirred a lot of interest last season when he stubbornly stuck with his slime adidas Predator adiPower, Mesut Ozil went through an interesting season last year when it came to the German footballer’s footwear of choice. But it seems the story has taken another interesting twist. Just days after adidas announced Mesut Ozil as the latest player to be officially endorsing adidas football boots, Ozil has been seen in a mysterious blackout boot while training for Madrid. And somehow, we do not think it is an adidas boot either…

Mesut Ozil Real Madrid blackout edited

Sure, Van Persie wore an old pair of footy boots last season, but it was not at quite the same scale as the Mesut Ozil boot saga. While Ozil was signed to Nike last season, the midfielder defied his outstanding boot contract and wore adidas Predator LZs in a competitive match for Madrid in October last year. Nike took Ozil to court, and a Dutch judge ruled in favour for Nike after it was revealed that Ozil had a clause in his contract with Nike that if any other company receives a new sponsorship offer, Nike has the first rights to match the offer from the other company. Ozil going straight to the Predator LZ was not allowed under the contractual obligations Ozil has with Nike.

Mesut Ozil Real Madrid Predator and Mercurial edited

The fallout from the saga meant that the Dutch court ordered Ozil to wear a ‘brand less’ football boot 180 days after the court ruling to prove he does not have a contract with adidas. Perhaps as a protest to the decision, Ozil wore the Nike Mercurial Vapor VIII in the Retro/Total Orange/Red colourway for the rest of the 2012/13 season. However, Ozil was officially unveiled as an adidas athlete a week or so ago by the company, and he stepped out in the Predator LZ II in Real Madrid’s friendly against Bournemouth on the weekend.

Ozil all in

But as if this whole story could not become any more intriguing, Ozil has been spotted in a blackout prototype football boot during Real Madrid’s training session on Tuesday. The midfielder has gone straight out of the Predator LZ II into the suspected prototype boot. Those in the boot world know that blackout (or whiteout boots these days) often point towards the footballer trialling a new prototype boot on behalf of the manufacturer. Sadly, only one photo of Mesut Ozil was taken from the training session, but it does give us one or two hints about Ozil’s boots.

Mesut Ozil Real Madrid blackout zoom in edited

First up, we are 100% sure that Ozil is definitely wearing an unreleased boot. The features we can make out of the boot does suggest the boot is not like anything else released on the market at the moment. But this is where things become that little bit different. The studs on Ozil’s boots are definitely reminiscent of the stock standard TRAXION triangular studs that adidas have rolled out onto all of their football boots, but there is two more things that have caught our eye when it came to the soleplate. It may be a little difficult to make out the details of the boot in the photo, but it does appear that there is a lack of a micoach cavity on Ozil’s boots, a staple for all top-tier adidas boots. So what could it be? If you take a look at the middle of the outsole, it looks like there is a slight black symbol there, and by all accounts, it looks like the Puma ‘big cat’ logo.

Mesut Ozil Real Madrid blackout zoom in 2 edited

Before we go diving in and saying Ozil is wearing a Puma boot, it must be pointed out that these photos are not overly conclusive due to the lack of details about the boot. We will need to see more before we can be 100% positive about the specs of the boot. A look at the other boot does not give too much away either. It does appear that the boot does have a leather-like upper, but there is a strange detailing on the side that we would certainly love to know more about.

It is hard to say what Ozil could be testing. While adidas will be releasing an update to the adiZero later this year and a new adiPure 11Pro next year, we have not heard about any future boot releases from adidas. In saying that, there is a strong chance that adidas will release a brand new football boot around April next year for the World Cup, and it could be an updated Predator boot. However, it could be a Puma boot considering that come October this year, the PowerCat 1.12 would have been out for 2 years. We could be looking at the next instalment to the Puma PowerCat range, but considering that Ozil is an adidas athlete, it is very hard to say for sure what boots Ozil is wearing.

It is certainly an interesting situation, and we will keep you guys informed of any updates. Until then, what boots do you think Ozil is testing out?

 

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