Gearing up for the new Serie A campaign, Ivan Perisic has returned to action with Inter Milan after his successful loan spell at Bayern Munich, and he’s done so in what looks to be the next generation Nike Mercurial Superfly.
It’s been over a year since the Vapor XIII and Superfly VII hit our shelves, and were it not for the minor inconvenience of a global pandemic, we’d likely have the next generation of Mercurial already, in line with Nike’s accelerated design period. But with that set back in mind we’re still waiting on the mark XIV and VIII. Good news is that it's now on the way, having entered the testing phase with Inter’s Ivan Perisic putting a prototype through its paces in the Italian side’s preseason demolishing of Lugano.
The Mercurial line is one of such dynasty that every time a new generation comes out you wonder just how they propose to improve on the last. And yet Nike seem to do it time and again, radically revamping the silo with each iteration. And that looks to be the case again with this next-gen sneak peek.
Obviously it appears that we’re looking at the Superfly variation, made apparent by the presence of the collar, which certainly seems higher than the last incarnation. Aside from that, the upper looks to be once again reworked. The large outline of the Swoosh has moved, now taking up position along the side and up onto the forefoot. A smaller Swoosh then sits on the instep. What looks to be perforated dots appear on both sides of the mid foot (possibly for ventilation?), while there also appears to be a new, possibly external heel cup. All guess work at this stage, but certainly looks like the Vapor XIV and Superfly VIII will be more than just tweaked upgrades. We’d expect nothing less though.
Stay locked for any more news or sneak peeks at the new Mercurial as and when...
