New Balance’s New Shoe
When Warrior were set to rebrand themselves as their parent company New Balance at the beginning of the 2014/15 football season, few took any real notice. Then in mid-November it was confirmed that Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey was going to be their lead player. The Welshman was not the only player to have joined the “NB” family, he would be alongside Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini and Adnan Januzaj, and City’s Vincent Kompany, Fernando and Samir Nasri. Liverpool players have not yet started to use the boot but are very much part of the rebranding of the Warrior gear to New Balance, as well as other European clubs such as Porto, Sevilla and Stoke City.
In recent matches Ramsey had been wearing a mystery white boot with speculation rife as fans struggled to recognise the brand behind the cover up. The new boots have not yet been launched and don’t even have a name, but they will spearhead US sport brand Warrior’s big New Year re-brand to New Balance.
Then came Galatasaray – Arsenal and Roma – Manchester City, the final matches of the group stage for both Arsenal and Manchester City and things would never be the same…at least according to our sponsorship Tipster.
The Welshman struck the ball with his “secret” boot from a distance of 26 metres. The ball travelled at a speed of 86 km/h taking 1.1 seconds to hit the back of the net from when it left his boot. Nasri on the other-hand struck his shot from 21 metres out, at a speed of 108km/h and it stuck the inside of the post in 0.7 seconds. Now for sure these are not the hardest, fastest or most amazing goals ever scored, but for sure both goals have something of the extraordinary. There will be many players wondering if this boot does actually give a player an advantage. There are a few big players that are still wearing un-branded boots that might be convinced to make the switch to this new boot. Robin van Persie, Carlos Tévez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all could be lined up to become the new members of the “NB” team and what a team that would be.
This is not the first time in footballing history that the “N” shoe has been linked to an incredible sporting feet as back during the 1982 World Cup in Spain, England captain Bryan Robson scored the record breaking, fastest goal in World Cup history, after 27 seconds (record only beaten in 2002 when Turkey’s Hakan Şükür scored after 10 seconds in the third-place match against South Korea) whilst wearing the New Balance “secret” boot of the era.
What would the top football tipster in the world say if I were to predict another super goal scored by a New Balance wearing player?