Shock Brand Transfers - Top 10
Lionel Messi wearing Nike Tiempo Legend, Ashley Cole wearing adidas F50 and Rivaldo wearing Puma. Over the years there have been some shock moves as players have switched brand allegiance, so on the dawning on the new football season we thought we'd look back at the top ten most memorable boot transfers...
With the likes of Aleksandar Kolarov and Romelu Lukaku switching brands for the new season, along with Mesut Ozil, Danny Welbeck and Thomas Vermaelen threatening to do so, we thought we'd take a look at ten shock brand transfers that have shook the boot world!
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A complete midfield playmaker, able to dictate play from box-to-box, defend and attack. Cesc Fabregas was the ultimate poster boy for the launch of the Nike CTR360 football boots, fronting all the campaign material for the complete control boot. So imagine the shock when in September 2011 Cesc was snapped in training wearing Puma PowerCat's, quite a scoop for Puma who jhave been able to use Cesc as the lead asset for their very own control boot.
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Aguero had been a Nike player for some time before deciding it was time for a change. But the powerful and pacey forward didn't switch straight into Puma football boots, as first he gave adidas adiPure's a try before deciding on Puma. Since signing for the Formstripe, Aguero has been integral to the design of their new speed boots and was key in the decision to not carry over the lace-cover from the v1.11 to the evoSPEED.
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Thierry Henry was part of a list that included Didier Drogba, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldo as speed players who wore Nike Vapor football boots. But in 2007 he shocked football, not just by leaving Arsenal for Barcelona, but by deciding to leave Nike to join Reebok. To be fair to Thierry, at the time when he signed he was accompanied by fellow speedsters Ryan Giggs and Andrei Shevchenko. Now playing in the MLS, Henry interestingly sports Puma King football boots.
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After a 4 year absence Nike were able to re-sign forward Gonzalo Higuain, after his affair with adidas! When Higuain signed for Real Madrid in 2006 he was a Nike football boots wearer, but shortly after his move in 2007 adidas snapped up the striker as one of their faces of the F50 range. Higuain remained in the F50 speed boots right through from the Tunit's upto adizero, but in early 2011 he made the decision to add shooting technology to his footwear in the form of the T90 Laser which he has worn ever since.
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In his early career Nani had to live slightly in the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo, both had followed the path to Manchester United and both wore Nike Vapor football boots. It helped Nani to emerge with his own identity when he signed for adidas, and after initially wearing adizero is now in Predator Lethal Zones. The result of which has been an upturn in Nani's form and performances, who is now a dangerous first team player for United.
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When the adizero was launched in 2010 it took the boot world by storm, and there was a host of players who immediately switched their footwear. One such player was Barcelona full-back Dani Alves, after apparently play testing Leo Messi's boots in training, although it wasn't quite straight forward for Alves as he still had a contract to honour with Nike, so what resulted was a period of Alves in blacked-out adizero's.
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Before Puma's resurgence through the likes of Aguero, Falcao and Yaya Toure, they were clinging onto their brand assets for their speed boots, and one such asset was Nicolas Anelka. It must have come as a wake up call then, when even Anelka made the switch to arch rivals adidas in 2010, a move which clearly forced Puma into changing their marketing strategy as they now boast a very credible portfolio of players.
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Rivaldo had been an icon of the Mizuno Morelia football boots throughout his career, he was the reason why a million young South Americans had all grown-up wanting to wear the classic boots. So it was a huge shock when in 2004, after the Brazilian signed for Olympiakos, that he started to wear Puma football boots. Rivaldo even remained in Puma's for the next four years, before returning to his trusted Morelia's.
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In a bizarre case ahead of the 2009/10 season is seemed long-term adidas wearer Ashley Cole found himself without a boot contract. Cole decided to try out some new boots including the Puma v1.08, but soon decided upon the CTR's after their launch in October of that year. Nike seemingly didn't hesitate to snap up arguably the best left-back in the game on a contract and Cole has been wearing Nike football boots ever since.
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This has to rank alongside not signing The Beatles in terms of one that got away. Amazingly Lionel Messi began his Barcelona career wearing Nike football boots, but either Nike were relaxed or adidas were eagle-eyed and spotted the potential, as they secured the signature of Leo Messi in 2006 and he's gone on to become the best player in world football at the moment and of course their lead athlete for all things football.
Which boot brand transfers have left a lasting memory with you and shocked the boot world, plus are there any we're missing? Join the conversation and have your say online, on Twitter and on Facebook.
