This may come as a big surprise, but we've obtained information that Nike will launch the next generation of the Mercurial in Summer 2019. The current-gen Nike Mercurial Summer 6 and Vapor 12 were debuted in February 2018.
Colorway
The next-gen Nike Mercurial boots will be launched in a vibrant 'Blue Hero' colorway, with white outlined Swooshes and 'Obsidian' details.
Superfly and Vapor will continue to co-exist
Nike will continue to offer high and low-cut versions of the Mercurial, with both Mercurial Summer 7 and Mercurial Vapor 13 confirmed to drop at the same time.
When exactly will the Superfly 7 be released?
The Nike Mercurial Superfly 7 cleats are set to drop in July / August 2019, as part of Nike's first collection of the 2019-20 season. We might see the boots get debuted at the 2019 Copa America.
This means that the leaked 'Armory Blue' colorway will be the last of the Mercurial Superfly 6 gen.
Will Nike switch to yearly generational updates?
Whereas Adidas is dropping new generations for its silos every 12 months - although in some cases they barely change a thing, and Puma has gone to the extreme of updating its boots every six months - Nike has kept its generational updates firmly set two the classic two-year cycle.
However, we might now see Nike adopt a release model more similar to Adidas or Puma, with new generations being released (almost) every year. At the moment, though, it's too early to tell and we'll have to wait and see what will happen with the Phantom Vision, which was first released in Summer 2018, but will not see a generational update introduced next summer. Also worth noting, the new gen of Nike Tiempo will also debut in 2019, exactly two years after the current one.
What to expect of the next-gen Nike Mercurial Superfly 7 and Vapor 13?
Unfortunately, at the moment no pictures of the Mercurial Superfly 7 and Vapor 13 have been leaked, not even a tech description is available at the moment. Neither have we seen them tested on-pitch by Nike athletes (yet).
Anyway, it's safe to assume that the boots will continue the approach of the current generation and offer a lightweight speed option made of Flyknit. Superfly and Vapor will likely again be almost identical apart from the collar.
Would you like to see Nike release new generations more regularly? What are you hoping to see changed from the current to next generation of the Nike Mercurial? Comment below.