Riyad Mahrez Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez has been spotted wearing some interesting football boots recently. Riyad Mahrez has been backed by Nike throughout his career. Despite expectations that he would become a key player in the Phantom Vision, he opted to wear the discontinued Nike Hypervenom for several months. Recently, he was spotted wearing the second-generation Nike Hypervenom Phantom II.
Riyad Mahrez donned the turquoise and silver Nike Hypervenom Phantom II soccer cleat, which debuted in February 2016. This particular Hypervenom boot received criticism from many players due to its upper design. Nike then released an updated version, the "Hypervenom 2.1", with improvements to the upper a few weeks later. Mahrez's prolonged use of the outdated Nike Hypervenom boots suggests a potential departure from the brand. It appears that his contract with Nike has already expired.
During the pre-season, Mahrez was spotted wearing two different boots: the brand new Nike Phantom VSN football boots, as well as his famous Nike Hypervenom boots that he used last season. In fact, he used both the Nike Hypervenom and the Nike Phantom Vision in training, but in the match against Dortmund, he opted for the Nike Hypervenom. It seems that Riyad Mahrez will be switching to the Nike Phantom VSN, especially since earlier in 2019, Nike ditched the Hypervenom in favor of the Phantom Venom, which is specifically designed for attackers.