Puma King Finale
The World Cup has thrown up many surprises, but none more so than the sight of Argentina's Martin Palermo debuting the Puma King Finale, the next installment in a long line of Puma King football boots.
"C'mon, it's not that surprising" we hear you cry "lots of pro's debut boots before release." Which is indeed true. Most recently, Goran Pandev played in the adidas F50 adizeros before their official release. It's already happened before with Puma too, as Nicolas Anelka tried out the PowerCat 1.10 Tricks before their World Cup bow.
But these Puma King Finale sightings are slightly different - this is a boot not due out for release until December 2010, yet already has a World Cup goal to their name.
We tracked down one of the only pairs around, outside of Palermo's kitbag of course, but Puma weren't too keen on us showing you the whole package just yet. Understandably, considering there will be plenty of other new Pumas to come before the official December release.
What we can tell you though, is that the Puma King Finale is a serious departure from the current King XL model. The sole plate and stud configuration are borrowed from the XL, but that's about where the similarities end. The fold over tongue is softer and far less rigid than the XL's, with an added front lip to cover extra laces.
The whole upper is softer, more flexible and thinner than the XL, so expect plenty of classic ball feel and touch. The toe box has been addressed too, something for which the King XL was criticised, and is less square and high than the previous model.
So now December feels like a very long way off, knowing these quality football boots are just sitting there, waiting to get onto the pitch. We're still intrigued as to why Palermo has debuted these so early.
But remember his national coach is Diego Maradona, who was a famous King player back in his day, so we reckon he still might hold a Puma connection or two....
