It’s still early January and we’ve already seen one of the biggest releases of the year, with Nike honouring two giants of their arenas with the ‘Chosen 2’ pack, providing LeBron James with a special signature LeBron 18 sneaker, and Kylian Mbappé with an equally special Mercurial Superfly VII, both complete with combined branding from both stars. Now, ahead of the official launch, we get a closer look at the latter.
We saw Kylian Mbappé unveiling his new Mercurial Superfly VII ‘Chosen 2’ ahead of giving them their on-pitch debut this week in PSG’s 1-1 draw with St-Étienne, but now, ahead of their official launch tomorrow, Saturday 8 January, we get a close up look at all the details contained on this special, limited edition release. And this boot only gets better the closer you look…
The design inspiration of both footwear pieces comes from the idea of duality, of parallel paths, from one champion to another. Both Mbappé and James are homegrown heroes, Kylian from the Bondy suburb, and LeBron from Akron, challenging places that shaped them both as people and as players. And so Nike have honoured both players, bringing them together and combining both of their signature styles.
Probably the cleverest combination comes from the combination of both players’ names in a stylised graphic, located on the insole of the right boot. Read it one way and it says ‘LeBron’, but flip that and read it the other way and you get ‘Kylian’. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The upper shines with the KM x LBJ pattern across the black upper, which also features that double Swoosh: one for the PSG man, one for the Lakers man. A ‘Chosen One’ ambigram logo is found on the boot’s toe and 3D KM and LBJ logos are presented on the heel tabs, while the split soleplate shimmers with an iridescent finish.
Remember we said these were limited? Well, there’s only going to be 4620 pairs of the ‘Chosen 2’ Mercurial available, so if you’re after a pair, best be quick.
Shop the Nike 'Chosen 2' pack from 8am GMT, Saturday 8 January on prodirectsoccer.com
