Marcelo, Calvert-Lewin and other players in black boots

As you know, when brands are developing a new football boot or making changes to one of their ranges, they usually send a select group of players a pair of all-black boots. These boots are usually prototypes or early versions of new boot models, or test versions of improvements to existing models. 

So, now that we’ve seen not just one, but several players wearing black adidas boots, let’s see what’s in the pipeline at the German brand. 

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen Real Madrid’s left-back, Marcelo, wearing all-black boots – a style that looks similar to the current adidas X Ghosted football boots, but with slight changes to the upper. It’s something we can’t make out very clearly, but it seems to signal a redesign of the ultra-thin material currently used on the boot. 

Moving on to the upper, in the images from the Everton vs Arsenal match, we could see striker Calvert-Lewin wearing an all-black version, on which we could make out certain details. This upper appears to be slightly more textured than the current one, and certain details can be seen on the sides. As for the outsole, it looks the same as the one on the current X models. 

We also saw Japan’s Minamino wearing what appears to be the same model as the previous ones, but with even greater detail; the texture of the upper is very different from the current version, and the fit looks considerably tighter. This can also be seen in the photos of the very young Florian Wirtz of Bayer Leverkusen wearing this same prototype. 

In conclusion, we have what appears to be a new model from the German brand, about which we can discern little beyond a redesign of the upper, featuring a slightly tighter and more minimalist fit than the current version. As for the sole, we cannot see any significant changes, as it certainly appears to be the same or very similar to those seen on the current X range. It seems we will have to wait a little longer to see the new adidas football boots.