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Come Fan with UsSunday, June 21, 2026

Lukas Podolski & Mesut Ozil spotted in Arsenal training wearing mystery adidas boots

It’s not every day that you see a pair of mystery boots out in the open on the feet of professional footballers. It’s even rarer to see two pairs of mystery boots on the feet of two professional footballers, captured on camera, during training.

Michael Regan

Over the last couple week-and-a-half, we've seen just that with Arsenal's Mesut Özil and Lukas Podolski doing just that. The pair of Germany internationals are sporting a pair of adidas prototypes in what may well be the first peak at the sportswear giant's next generation of football boots.

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In the middle of last week, Mesut Özil was spotted in training wearing a mystery blackout boot that is interesting to say the least. The Arsenal midfielder has been an adidas wearer for the better part of the last year, making the switch from Nike and the Mercurial Vapor to the Predator Lethal Zones last July.

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The new footwear that he has on may well be the next generation of that, sporting a shiny synthetic upper and a pattern of curious white dots. While there are no indications about what they are, those with attention to detail may notice the placement of the dots and note the similarities to the placement of the current lethal zones, albeit in a tighter pattern.

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If that wasn't curious enough, this week we saw Ozil's teammate on two fronts, Lukas Podolski, wearing an entirely different pair of boots. Podolski, like Ozil, wears adidas boots but unlike the midfielder, the striker is a fan of the f50 series. Poldi currently wears the Earth Pack F50s but that is most definitely not what was on show in Arsenal training on Sunday, ahead of Arsenal's eventual 3-0 win against Newcastle United.

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Podolski’s footwear of choice is undeniably different to what his compatriot was wearing in the previous photo set. The synthetic upper of the boots features an interesting diagonal pattern but is completely smooth, barring a 3D-printed texture invisible to the camera, like on the current generation. While it’s impossible to make a concrete judgement based on the photos, it is pretty easy to see the adidas Sprintframe outsole, similar tongue shape to the current f50, and a similar stud layout.

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