Closer Look | Neymar Shows Off Camouflaged Nike Hypervenom Boots
Cristiano Ronaldo prefers a lower Dynamic Fit collar, Francesco Totti prefers a classic fold-over tongue, but FC Barcelona superstar Neymar didn't like his Nike Hypervenom Phantom Boots at all. We take a closer look at the upper, the tongue and the outsole of Neymar's completely customized Nike Hypervenom Phinish Boots after he debuted the boots last Saturday.
Update 17/11/15: Neymar has shown off his modified Nike Hypervenom Boots on Instagram yesterday. His new pictures confirms that he is using the same tongue as seen on the Nike Mercurial Vapor X Boots, while the upper features a smoother design than the regular version of the speed boot.
It was anything but a bad boot debut for Barcelona striker Neymar who scored four goals in a match for the first time since he joined the Catalan side. And while he previously laced up in the Nike Mercurial Vapor 10 Boots, the match against Rayo was his first match when he laced up in a completely customized version of the Nike Hypervenom.
Closer Look | Neymar Debuts Camouflgaed Nike Hypervenom Phinish Boots
Close-up picture of the Nike Hypervenom 'Neymar Edition'.
It's obvious that Neymar's Nike Hypervenom Boot is anything but a standard Nike Hypervenom Phinish. Whereas the Nike Hypervenom Phinish Cleats feature a distinctive stitching pattern in the forefoot area, Neymar's Nike Hypervenom Edition comes with a smooth Teijin upper design that reminds us of previous Nike Mercurial Boots used for the Nike Mercurial from the third to the eight generation. The only element that is rather similar to the Nike Hypervenom Phinish are the strings within the upper.
While the upper features at least the same design as the regular version of the Hyper Grape Nike Hypervenom Phinish, the tongue of Neymar's camouflage boot is black and not purple. And even though the pictures do not definitely reveal which tongue Neymar uses, it's most likely that it's the same tongue used for the Nike Mercurial Vapor X Cleats.
It's not a surprise anymore that the tongue is also completely modified for Neymar Jr. Whereas the Nike Hypervenom Boot features conical studs for rotational agility, Neymar's custom Nike Hypervenom Boots comes with bladed (triangular) studs. Like the upper, the concept for the stud configuration and design is borrowed from the Nike Mercurial, although we are not aware of any Nike Mercurial Boot generation with exactly the same sole plate.
What's a bit strange is that even the Swoosh on the sole plate of the Nike Hypervenom Neymar Boots is wrongly turned. This further showcases how fast Nike was forced to design and produce the modified Nike Hypervenom Boots after Neymar switched to the Nike Mercurial Cleats one month ago.
We would love to get our hands on the Nike Hypervenom 'Neymar Edition' to try them out. Do you think that Nike managed to hide that Neymar is not wearing the 'real' Nike Hypervenom Phinish? Let us know in the comments below.
