Depending on how much you’re willing to read into it, a set of leaked images appear to show that Nike may have let the cat out of the bag regarding this year’s Ballon d’Or recipient.
It would seem that Cristiano Ronaldo is set to draw level with Lionel Messi by winning his fifth award if his latest batch of custom-made Mercurial boots are anything to go by.
For starters, the gold-and-white boots have the words “Quinto Triunfo” (“Fifth Triumph” in Portuguese) stamped on the heel…
Printed on the insole, the Mercurials also carry the dates of Ronaldo’s four previous Ballon d’Or wins, along with this year’s date, referred to stylistically as “CR2017″…
Now, there’s every chance that Nike haven’t been privy to an insider tip-off from France Football and have simply cobbled these things up in preparation for a prospective Ronaldo win.
What’s more, there’s also a more-than-decent chance that the boots aren’t 100% kosher. Leaked images from anonymous Thai warehouses aren’t usually the most reliable harbingers of anything in particular.
Still, the chances of Ron landing his fifth bauble are roughly 50/50 as ever, so you can probably go ahead and feel fairly comfortable about sticking your mortgage on it.