Mr. Mercurial, Kylian Mbappe has shown up for his first France training session of this international break in a whiteout prototype of the new, next generation of Nike’s Mercurial Superfly.

The current international break is proving to be a rich source for boot spotting, with Italy’s Giacomo Raspadori and England’s Jude Bellingham both showing off an upcoming colourway for the adidas Predator 24. Well, now it’s the turn of Kylian Mbappe, who, along with Marcus Thuram, has reported to Clairefontaine for France duty with a prototype of the next generation Nike Mercurial.

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It’s not the first time we’ve seen this boot being tested out, with Robert Lewandowski notably giving it a run in a recent Barça training session, but to see the silo’s lead athlete putting it through its paces means that we really can’t be all that far away from an official launch.

The Air Zoom Mercurial Vapor XV and Superfly IX dropped in June 2022, fast approaching two years ago now, so, given the Mercurial’s more recent release record, it feels like an upgrade is due.

While the whiteout presentation does exactly what its intended in disguising any details of tech upgrades, what we can see is that this prototype definitely has a new upper structure and texture and a new soleplate and stud configuration compared to the Vapor XV and Superfly IX, featuring a ribbed structure through the forefoot.

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Watch this space for more info on the next generation Nike Mercurial.

Shop Nike Mercurial boots at prodirectsport.com/soccer