It’s official – after over a year without a boot sponsor, during which time speculation was rife about his next deal, Erling Haaland has put all rumours to bed by resigning with Nike Football.
It's been one of the longest lasting sagas in modern football, but Erling Haaland has finally put his boot future to bed by re-signing with Nike. Following an association with the Swoosh that stretches back to when he was 14, the Norwegian's contract with Nike expired in January 2022. What then ensued was a 12+ month period in which the striker flirted with the likes of adidas and PUMA, being pictured wearing both brands' boots. But he always came back to his Nike Mercurials. More recently though, he's been spotted in the Phantom GX 'Link', lending fuel to the speculative fire that he would re-join his former brand – and that move has now been confirmed.
Haaland lines up in Nike’s elite football roster alongside the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Alexia Putellas, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ada Hegerberg, Marcus Rashford, Leah Williamson, Kevin De Bruyne, Megan Rapinoe and Sam Kerr. His switch to the Phantom makes a massive amount of sense, with Mbappé already in place as the key face of the Mercurial line, taking over from Cristiano Ronaldo. To have two elite strikers battling it out and marketing the same boot would be awkward to say the least, but this move means that the two can line up alongside each other in future campaigns.
Haaland’s unprecedented rise through European Club football, complete with a staggering pace of record-breaking goal scoring, cements his position as what Nike refer to as "heir to number 9 — the next-generation striker".
Since debuting for his hometown club, Bryne, in Norway, Haaland has progressed through league play in Austria, Germany and England, proving himself a force of nature by becoming the youngest player (at 22 years and 236 days) to score 30 goals in Europe’s premier club competition. He’s now on pace to break season goal-scoring records for his current club and the Premier League.
Erling Haaland wears the Nike Phantom GX, which you can pick up at prodirectsport.com/soccer
