December 1 2023 was meant to be the date, but Trent Alexander-Arnold couldn’t help himself.
Adidas’ big announcement (the Predator was back, and so was the elasticated tongue) was pre-empted by Liverpool's full-back turned midfielder wearing his white ‘familiarisation’ Adidas boots during one of the biggest games of the season: Liverpool vs Manchester City at The Etihad on November 25. And he scored in them.
The internet erupted. Trent was running around in stunning, never-before-seen Predators. But the big news was: they had an elasticated tongue. A feature not seen on an in-line Adidas boot in almost 20 years.
In the era of product hype, leaks and drops Adidas embraced the ‘all publicity is good publicity’ mantra. If Sam Handy, Vice President of Design for Adidas Football and the person behind the new Predator 30, was mad with Trent, he certainly isn't showing it.
FourFourTwo was granted an exclusive interview with Sam to chat about the 30th anniversary of Adidas Predator, and the story behind the new release that has set tongues wagging.
“Players have had the boots for maybe six months,” he explains. “I think they got the first familiarisation boots in maybe October-ish.”
Familiarisation boots (for those not familiar) are unbranded, sample boots players wear in training to test and get used to new silhouettes, designs and templates in lieu of wearing them in games to coincide with official product launches. In theory, players are supposed to wait for the green light from their boot brand before stepping out in them officially.
“It's the first time I can remember that we had people immediately taking them from familiarisation directly into games. We saw those white pairs popping up in Premier League games and it's not really the plan for that to happen - right?
“We had players… begging is not the right word, but you know, asking really nicely: ‘Can I wear these now? It's the best boot I've ever put on’. The painful thing has been holding back until now to let it go all out and let people wear it.”
Alexander-Arnold wasn’t the only young England star who couldn’t wait for Adidas’ December 1 embargo. Jude Bellingham wore the official burgundy red, black and white version (limited to just 1,994 pairs in honour of the Predator’s birth year) in the Champions League vs Napoli four days after Trent.
Like his England team-mate, he scored.
Sam also reveals to FourFourTwo that the inspiration for the return of the tongue came from a high-profile player in the Adidas stable. Though he won’t say who.
“It was a direct pro player request that initiated the idea of being able to bring it [the tongue] back. I won't name the player but we were talking to a Gen Z, great player who said: ‘Just give me a real Pred, with a fold-over tongue, but make it light, make it high performance.’ That initiated me being able to pull the idea off inside the Adidas brand.”
With Alexander-Arnold only signing his boot deal with Adidas towards the end of 2023, he is almost certainly not the unnamed player.
Jude Bellingham was four years old the last time a Predator featured an elasticated foldover tongue, so is unlikely to have ever worn one until 2023. The only other player Sam mentions during our chat is Kalvin Phillips.
“He's definitely someone who was well into those boots. It's great to see him finally able to play them because he's seen it now for a good year or so.
“Seeing him, for the first time, pick up a pair of fold-over tongue Preds that weigh so little was… you just saw his eyes light up. It was a really interesting experience actually.”
The foldover tongue with elastic was first introduced in 1998, and famously worn by David Beckham. The feature remained on the boot for nine more seasons but hasn't been seen since.
It has triumphantly returned in 2024, but times and technology have moved on so much. What aesthetically looks like an iconic Predator football boot is "a world apart" when you pick it up.
"If you look at it on the table you think, ‘Ok, that's an iconic Pred because I see the fold over tongue, I see the rubber control zone’ but then you pick it up and it's like, “Wow” like it feels like a speed boot. It looks like a Predator performs like a Predator, but in a really high performance way."
Whichever player made the initial request, they have made a lot of football fans happy.
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