Declan Rice
Before Declan Rice became an Adidas man, he was a Nike Tiempo guy. During his early days at West Ham, he wore the Swoosh's cult football boot before crossing over to the Three Stripes and settling down with the Copa. And for the best part of a decade, they seemed pretty happy!
Adidas turned Rice into one of the Copa's biggest faces, putting him in campaigns and making custom pairs just for him. But recently, things have started to look a little… complicated. Last month, the Arsenal midfielder suddenly turned up to training in Nike's new Tiempo Maestro. He went back to his Adidas Copas a few days later, only to emerge this week in a completely white pair with no logos anywhere.
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Stuart MacFarlane/Getty Images
While neither Rice nor the brand has confirmed anything, boot specialists have ID'ed the mysterious pair as a whiteout version of Under Armour's new Magnetico Elite 6. The £245 boot only dropped at the end of last month, and it comes with a Liquid Clone upper that moulds around the foot, extra cushioning beneath the sole, and a sculpted heel counter to keep everything locked in. The normal colourway is covered in ‘Metallic Silver’ and ‘Pink Frenzy’. This pair looks like someone spilled a bottle of Tipp-Ex over it.
There's probably a reason for that. Most pro footballers have contracts that tell them which brand and, often, which new colourway they need to wear. Sign with Nike and you wear Nike. Sign with Adidas and you wear Adidas. Michael Olise is one of the rare exceptions: he doesn't have a deal, so he can bounce between old Hypervenoms and F50s and whatever else he finds at the back of his wardrobe.
When a player starts testing rival boots with all the branding removed, it usually suggests that a deal has ended or that a new one is being worked out. Declan Rice has now tried Nike, returned to Adidas, and quietly given Under Armour a go, all within a couple of weeks.
So, yeah, something is definitely happening. The only question left is whose logo eventually appears on the side.
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Under Armour
Magnetico Elite 6.0 'Metallic Silver'
[£245
Pro:Direct Sport](https://cna.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)