When it comes to choosing their football boots, most Manchester United players favour the Mercurial line from Nike.
Eleven members of the 2022/23 first-team squad chose either the Vapor or Superfly variant from the Mercurial range, highlighting its popularity.
These popular Nike football boots are clearly favoured by flair players, with Bruno Fernandes, Christian Eriksen and Alejandro Garnacho among the United stars who wear them.
However, the standout name on the list is undoubtedly Marcus Rashford, whose Nike Zoom Mercurial Superfly 9 XXV boots helped him become the scourge of defenders last season.
Rashford bagged 30 goals and 11 assists in 56 appearances in all competitions to cement his status as the club’s most effective attacking outlet.
Nike have cornered the market where United players are concerned, with their Phantom line favoured by seven first-team stars.
While Casemiro is the top outfield player who wears Phantom boots, the footwear also proved to be extremely appealing to United’s goalkeepers.
David de Gea prefers the adidas Copa, but Tom Heaton, Jack Butland and Dean Henderson all wore the Phantom during the 2022/23 campaign.
The adidas X is another popular boot with United players, with ten members of last season’s squad wearing them including Luke Shaw and Scott McTominay.
Five players picked the orange version of the boots, while Lisandro Martinez was on his own in choosing the pink/black variant.
The Argentinian was clearly comfortably with his footwear, having established himself as a fan favourite following his move from Ajax last summer.
Forward Anthony Martial also went with the adidas X last season, although he chose a rather more conservative all black colourway.
Out of the 38 players listed as first-teamers by the Red Devils last season, 33 of them chose either Nike or adidas boots.
The remaining five picked Puma boots – Harry Maguire, Raphael Varane, Brandon Williams, Zidane Iqbal and Antony.
Of that quintet, only Varane and Antony will be able to look back positively on their respective contributions to the campaign.
While Varane established himself alongside Martinez in the heart of the defence, it was a thoroughly miserable campaign for Maguire.
The England international failed to impress manager Erik ten Hag and was quickly reduced to playing a bit part role from the substitutes’ bench.
Maguire would probably benefit from a change of scenery, particularly if he wants to retain his place in the England team for the 2024 European Championship.
While Maguire still has time to salvage something from his top-flight career, fellow centre-back Phil Jones may not be so lucky.
He was the only member of United’s squad to choose the iconic adidas Predator boots, but they did not bring him any luck as he failed to play for the first team.
The 31-year-old has now been released by the club, bringing the curtain down on his 12-year stint with the Premier League giants. Quite where Jones and his Predators will end up is anyone’s guess, but it is sad to see him exit United without every truly fulfilling the potential he showed at Blackburn Rovers.
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