New boot launched by boot face

FOOTBALLER Cristiano Ronaldo, the player you either hate or love, or love to hate, but mostly just dislike, has launched a new football boot in London, the Nike Mercurial Vapor SuperFly II.

The Mercurial Vapor SuperFly II, and we promise not to name it in full again, costs £225 so represents an instant nightmare for parents of boys everywhere, but it does have some neat technology under its hood, or to use the vernacular, its toebox.

What makes the boot special, other than its design, are a number of traction features that make it easy for twinkle-toed players like Ronaldo to skip around the pitch like Bambi.

First, it is lightweight, secondly and most importantly it has what Nike calls an adaptive traction system that, if you like, snaps the boots studs into position depending on the conditions of the surface and the players playing style. In short, the firm says, it is designed for 'explosive acceleration'.

Mark Parker, Nike's president and CEO said, "Our success in the world's most popular sport is based on creating innovative products and experiences such as the new, incredibly light and responsive Mercurial SuperFly II boot and Nike Football+ which connects the digital and physical worlds of football. These are among Nike's most advanced products to date and will help write the next chapter for Nike football."

Like a lot of crosses, a lot of this boot stuff goes over our heads, but according to Nike the adaptive stud can extend and retract by up to 3mm, while 'positioned blades maximise cutting and allow for quick changes of direction, secondary toe traction provides added toe-off power for those first critical steps'.

The result is a boot that enables greater speed in all directions, and is a menace to defenders everywhere. µ