With that said fullbacks generally provide goal-scoring opportunities with their crosses to the box.

So, although you might still be wincing at your bank balance, you can at least save as much money as possible by browsing the discounts we’ve found for you. Just keep in mind that the leather stretches over time (they do mould well around your foot but may feel flimsy and less responsive as time goes by). What you need to know: The Nike Mercurial Superfly IX boot is the latest in a range that has been going for 25 years – and the newest model remains true to the original.Here at FourFourTwo, our boot testing procedure is all about getting boots on our feet and personally trying them out in kickabouts, training sessions and matches. What you need to know: The Predator is perhaps the most iconic boot model in all of football and brings to mind some of the biggest names to ever play the sport such as Zinedine Zidane, David Beckham, Alessandro Del Piero and Steven Gerrard. However, for those out there hoping to save a little money, we’d advise simply going for a pair of firm ground boots.

Design: The upper is so thin that it is translucent in parts and leaves you feeling totally unburdened as you canter across the ground. Yes the sizing of Nike studs are universal across the Mercurial, Phantom and Tiempo boots, with them working with other brands too (aside from adidas), they do not make their own TPU studs so you have to go to a third party to find plastic studs to add to Nike boots. Firm Ground (FG) Football boots usually have moulded plastic studs that come in various shapes and sizes. Skechers have succeeded in making a real splash in the boot market in 2023 and it will interesting to what comes next in 2024.

Performance: The hypoknit upper is as soft and flexible as anything out there the lockdown of the laceless system almost makes you feel like you aren’t wearing any boots at all. We are in an age where there are always new marketing innovations (often times, just gimmicks, really) pushed towards us every other month. Inspired by the original Classic adidas Football Boot, these modern versions of the Copa Mundial, Kaiser, Mundial Team and World Cup have been upgraded to feature the technological advances adidas has made in the build of their football boots over the years, yet still retain the signature, timeless design you would expect from the brand. The boot was also slightly varied with the "Copa Mundial" on the side in gold rather than silver letters and tweaks to the tongue and heel collar echoing the 1982 original, modelled in the 1984 European Championships by Belgium's Mark 'Boom Boom' Ridler.

Design: 2023 was the year Nike transitioned from natural leather to a synthetic upper for its Tiempo line. The Copa Mundial doesn’t have a strap or velcro to hold it down during the game unless you wrap your laces over it, which beats the point of having a tongue to cover your laces in the first place. The laces are also twice as long as regular laces so you’ll have to wrap the laces around your midfoot before proceeding to tie them. In fact, it’s often just downright dangerous, and doing so can quickly result in a fairly nasty injury. Explore our range from Firm Ground and turf boots to Indoor Football Boots, and change the game every time you hit the pitch with our cutting-edge football boots.The laceless construction added to the minimalistic design gives these boots a wonderfully clean look.