The Puma King is a boot with a heritage that can rival almost any other: Pele leading Brazil to World Cup glory, Diego Maradona waltzing through England’s defence with his feet and then beating it with the Hand of God, Johan Cryuff pulling off the very first televised Cryuff turn.
All of these iconic moments have the Puma King in common. This year marks the first time that Puma have moved away from a natural leather upper for the boot and have instead opted for ‘K-Better’, their synthetic material created to mimic the fit and feel of kangaroo leather.
This is a significant change, and we tried an FG/AG pair to see just how well it and all the other features of the Puma King Ultimate work. So where do they rank among the best football boots around right now?
How we tested the Puma King Ultimate
We tried these a couple of times on 4G and natural grass pitches.
The soleplate is not at all aggressive and features entirely conical studs so lends itself well to playing on artificial ground. Puma classify these as FG/AG meaning they can be worn on both surfaces but they are slightly better suited to grass.
Comfort and fit
The biggest question mark for these boots was always going to be the performance of the K-Better upper in comparison to leather.
The upper is soft, pliable and comfortable pretty much out of the box but does not quite fully reproduce the feeling of wearing a natural leather boot. Brands do seem to be leaving behind the use of animal leather – Nike have stopped using kangaroo leather on the Tiempo and Premier ranges and less and less leather has appeared on the Adidas Copa range in recent years.
The boots do come up ever so slightly (perhaps a quarter size) small so depending on preference it may be worth going up a half size. We wore these true to size and they were very close to being too tight. If the boots were natural leather, then they would stretch slightly and create a perfect fit but with a synthetic upper this is much less of a possibility, so this is worth noting.
Design
The Puma King is Puma’s equivalent to Adidas’s Copa Mundial and has traditionally suited much of the same players.
These were a boot for the traditionalists – a comfortable, classically designed boot with enough padding to offer protection and wide enough to fit those with even the widest feet. A boot for no-nonsense players with a touch of class. While classic design and some of the comfort remain, the lightweight, slim and narrow upper means this boot is one that is going through a very clear transition.
This is a ‘heritage’ boot with characteristics that one might expect from a modern speed boot. It is not as narrow as a Nike Mercurial and will still fit most but those with very wide feet might have slightly more trouble than you would expect from a Puma King. The boot also does not offer that much in the way of protection.
On the pitch
This all means that these are perhaps best suited for a modern playmaker.
The conical studs allow you to twist and turn easily, the thin and lightweight upper creates a closeness with the ball and eliminates any excess bulk for players who need to move quickly and decisively to make things happen for their team.
Here, Puma have made a boot for a slightly different type of player: dragging their most iconic boot into the modern game.
Summary
Overall, the Puma King Ultimate could be said to encapsulate the question of how brands will manage the transition from using animal leather to more sustainable, synthetic alternatives while also retaining some of the aspects that have made the boots resonate with generation after generation.
Price-wise these retail for £190 – a good saving if compared to boots such as the Nike Tiempo and Adidas Copa Pure. The Copa Pure is probably the best comparison as a modernised version of a heritage pair and a £60 saving (the Copa Pure+ retails for £250) for the Puma King Ultimate means they do offer some value for money.
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