Leroy Sané's match worn modified Nike Mercurial Superfly V

Player name: Leroy Aziz Sané

Country: Germany 

Clubs: SG Wattenscheid 09, Bayer Leverkusen, Schalke 04, Manchester City

Position: Winger / Attacking Midfielder

DOB: 11/01/1996

Height: 6 ft 0 in

Leroy Sané is a German professional footballer who plays as a winger and as an attacking midfielder for Premier League club Manchester City and the German national team. He made his professional debut for Schalke 04 in 2014 and transferred to Manchester City in 2016 for an initial £37 million fee. He was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in 2017–18 after helping City win the Premier League and EFL Cup, a triumph the side bettered by winning a domestic treble the following season. Sané made his senior international debut for Germany in November 2015 and was part of their squad that reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2016. 

This pair of Nike Mercurial Superfly V boots were worn by Leroy during the 2017-18 season whilst playing for Manchester City and the German national team. These aren’t however any normal pair of Superfly V’s, they boast some extremely unique modifications. 

During the 2017-18 campaign, Sané was voted the PFA Young Player of the Year for his part in Manchester City's Premier League title win, edging teammates Raheem Sterling and Ederson, as well as Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane. With 15 assists, Sané just missed out on winning the inaugural Premier League Playmaker of the Season award to fellow teammate Kevin De Bruyne.

These boots are in the stunning "Lock in let loose" pack which was released by Nike back in July 2017, so their top sponsored athletes across all of Europe's top leagues would be wearing this colourway range at the start of the 2017-18 season. This colourway was arguably the best looking from the entire Superfly V range, with the excellently balanced orange/black/white design. The large "NIKE" branding on the instep really sets the boots off, looking a lot more ascetically pleasing than the standard instep Swoosh, which was on Superfly V colourways previous to the release of these.

Sané wore this exact pair in Manchester City's first home match of the 2017-18 season, which was a thumping 5-0 win vs Liverpool FC at the Etihad Stadium on the 9th September 2017. A match in which Sané contributed with two sublime goals, the pick of the pair being the 20 yard curling strike into the top corner. 

The most unique modification on this pair is the completely different Dynamic Fit collar. This is an addition that Nike allowed only CR7 and Sané have on their Superfly V boots, making this pair incredibly rare. There will only be a handful of Superfly V boots in the entire world with this Dynamic Fit collar design, making them truly one of a kind, and we've managed to get our hands on a pair.

Whilst visually it may appear that the only difference between the Dynamic Fit collar of Sané's pair and a regular retail pair is the height, there are actually a few other changes too. The FlyKnit material itself is different, with Sané's collar also being much thinner and more flexible than the retail version, with it seemingly being there for cosmetic purposes only. Whereas on the retail version it is of course there for lock down, fit and structure purposes. 

So far during his career, Sané has won a total of 7 major club honours winning 2 Premier League titles, 2 EFL cups, the FA Cup and the FA Community Shield twice. Did you know, Sané was actually eligible to play for France before representing Germany, as he holds French citizenship. 

Another cool detail on Sané's Superfly V's which separates them from the retail versions is the different shaped outer FG stud on the soleplate of each boot. This will have been done simply to reduce some stud pressure for the player on that side of his feet. 

Above: Sané wearing this pair in the World Cup qualifying match Northern Ireland vs Germany on the 5th October 2017 at Windsor Park Stadium. The match finished as a 1-3 win for Germany, with Leroy coming on as a second half substitute. 

As with most of Nike's top elite sponsored athletes, and due to the custom nature of these boots, they were hand made to measure just for Sané by the craftsmen in Nike's famous Athlete Service factory in Montebelluna, Italy. His ID number can be seen written into the heel area of each boot, which relates to his foot last (mould) inside the factory. Sané's boots are measured to be around a size UK8.5 / US9.5.

Above: Sané wearing this pair during Manchester City's first match of the 2017-18 Premier League season vs Brighton & Hove Albion at the Amex Stadium on the 12 August 2017. The matched finished as a 0-2 victory for City.

When we see the retail version Superfly V side by side with Sané's custom ones, it's even more noticeable just how different the Dynamic Fit collars are. Also, with Sané's pair being completely custom for his feet the shape also differs between the two. His pair feature a slightly lower, flatter toe box area and a more curved heel cup, with the overall fit being slightly narrower than that of a retail pair too.

Amid transfer speculation and interest from from top European clubs such as FC Bayern Munich, Manchester City have set an £80 million price tag for Sané in the hope to retain his services for the 2020-21 season and onwards. 

Yet another modification on Leroy's pair of Mercurial Superfly V boots is the application of additional lines of stitching at the heel areas of each boot. There are 5 lines either side of the heel area on each boot, which actually run from underneath the soleplate up to the lace holes. 

The reason for these stitches is to aid in the lock down fit and wrap the boots around Leroys feet just that little bit more. Essentially, these lines act similarly to FlyWire for that area of the boot, a technology brought out in 2009 by Nike in the Superfly 1 model which used thin Kevlar cables to aid fit. This technology was further developed in 2014 when Nike released the Superfly 4 with the first knitted upper, Nike decided to make the FlyWire cables of a knitted material too, in order to work properly with the new upper material. Interestingly, these additional lines of stitching on Sané's pair do not run across the Mercurial branding with the aim of making them undetectable from a distance. 

A simply amazing pair, should Nike have made the retail version of the Superfly V like this? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!