Jude Bellingham revived a beloved vintage item in addition to contributing to the creation of the 30th anniversary edition of the legendary adidas Predator boots.
The head designer now wants to lead England to the gold medal come summertime at Euro 2024.
Jude Bellingham helped create the latest version of the adidas Predator boots Credit: adidas
The Predator 24 sees the return of the foldover tongueCredit: Lukas Schulze / adidas AG
Since making his debut at Birmingham, the 20-year-old Bellingham has been with adidas, and he is currently showing off his abilities on the largest stage of all—the Bernabeu of Real Madrid.
He also made sure that the most recent iteration of the popular Predator met all of his requirements when it made its appearance in stores and on pitches in 1994.
Sam Handy, head of product for adidas football, told SunSport, “We work very closely with an amazing group of pro players who are involved in the feedback from early testing prototypes and adjustments.”
“We worked with Jude on this Predator, and we heard his first reactions when we put the boot in front of him.
He has contributed significantly to the creation of our performance-based boot.
We are carefully working with him to develop special editions and follow-up colorways for Jude that are constructed with his input in mind for future generations. He is intricately linked to the process of making us. He is an important brand associate.
Today marked the official release of the new Predator 24, which has been in development for the past 2.5 years. To make the boots stand out on TV, the traditional color scheme of black, white, and red is combined with a flash of neon yellow.
The traditional foldover tongue is also returning for the first time since 2002, and Bellingham and Trent Alexander-Arnold, the newest addition to adidas, will get first dibs on them.
The tongue is essentially an archival element, but many gamers asked for the foldover tongue to be reinstated, Handy said. It’s a really well-known detail.
It works. It gives you command over the ball. It was hard to resist the impulse to play Predator 24 when mixed with the memories and the tongue that professional players from Generation Z have been asking for performance purposes.
It’s clear from the sheer number of players who have jumped to this version so quickly that it’s the greatest Predator in thirty years.
“Normally, it takes us some time to get players used to a new boot, but in this case, we’ve been actively trying to stop them from coming too early because they all fell in love with it.”
Bellingham paid £115 million to go from Borussia Dortmund to Real Madrid, and he has now accepted the move.
In just 24 games, he has scored 17 goals, more than even his exceptional talent could have predicted.
His trophy cabinet is already packed with trophies, including Bundesliga player of the season, the Kopa Trophy, Golden Boy, DFB-Pokal, and now the Supercopa de Espana. He has also piled up 27 senior England games, scoring at the World Cup when he was just 19.
“Jude will remain Jude,” said Handy. Even while every player in our past has been immensely important to us, Jude will be unlike any other.
There have been 21 different designs over the past three decades Credit: adidas
Bellingham and Jules Kounde both wore new the Preds in the Supercopa de Espana final Credit: Reuters
David Beckham had a legendary career wearing Predators. Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
Zidane scored his Champions League final volley wearing the bootsCredit: Getty Images – Getty
The flashes of fluorescent yellow are to help the boots stand out on TV Credit: adidas
Arsenal star Alessia Russo will wear the new Predator 24Credit: adidas
Gabriel Jesus featured in the launch campaign Credit: adidas
The original Predator was released in 1994 Credit: adidas
The black, white and red colourway has become synonymous with the boots