Update: Ousmane Dembélé has been officially announced as an Adidas athlete with a nice little video, ending his time with Nike and an eight-month saga of different boot brands. Dembélé will be wearing the Adidas X Crazyfast soccer cleats.
All Nike Players Who Left Brand in 2023
Boot Saga Over Soon? Barcelona's Dembélé to Join Adidas? Wore Adidas, Puma, and Nike In the Past 6 Months
Update: Ousmane Dembélé has started his pre-season training for the 23-24 season wearing the new Adidas X Crazyfast in the AG version. This could mean that he is getting ready to join Adidas. Just a month ago, on June 19th, he was still using his old Nike Mercurial Superfly which he has an attachment to.
Stay tuned as we hope to get more info on Dembélé's boot and brand future.
Dembélé Starts 23-24 Pre-Season Training With Adidas X Crazyfast
Update: The future brand prospects for Ousmane Dembele of FC Barcelona remain uncertain as he has been without a boot deal for months now. His previous contract with Nike has come to an end, leaving him without a specific footwear endorsement.
Puma still seem to be favorite to sign Dembélé
Dembele has been spotted wearing Adidas Originals freestyle shoes during Barcelona's title celebrations, while he has laced up old-generation Nike Mercurial football boots during Barcelona's recent matches. Once, on May 2, 2023, he also laced up in the latest Puma Ultra Ultimate football boots, fueling speculation that a Puma deal was in the offing.
We think Ousmane Dembélé is still closest to signing with Puma, but he might have to get used to the Puma boots or get a modified version that fits his needs exactly. This could be one reason why he has only worn Puma boots once in official matches.
Ultimately, only time will reveal the brand future for Dembele, and fans will eagerly anticipate any official announcements regarding his next footwear endorsement.
Update 3 May 2023 - Dembélé to Join Puma: Ousmane Dembele, the French winger playing for FC Barcelona, debuted the Puma Ultra Ultimate football boots during Tuesday's match against Osasuna. Puma have not yet officially announced the deal yet, but we expect it to become official soon. Dembele had been a Nike athlete since his professional debut.
Dembélé Debuts Puma Ultra Ultimate Soccer Cleats
Update: After training in the latest Puma Ultra Ultimate football boots, Ousmane Dembélé returned to the old-gen Nike Mercurial Vapor 14 football boots for his first team comeback. We still expect him to officially join Puma soon.
Dembélé Makes First Team Comeback Wearing Nike Mercurial Vapor 14 Football Boots
April 23, 2023: Ousmane Dembélé Trains in Puma Ultra Ultimate Soccer Cleats
Ousmane Dembélé could leave Nike and join Puma after he was spotted wearing boots of the German brand in training recently. Thanks to Christian for the heads-up.
Dembélé has returned to the Barcelona squad to face Betis tonight after three months out injured.
While he usually wears the Nike Mercurial, he was pictured wearing a pair of Puma Ultra Ultimate cleats, and they were not even blacked-out or otherwise masked.
This suggests that Dembélé might seriously consider a brand switch, or even that his deal with Nike has already expired. Interestingly, before getting injured, Dembélé wore last-gen Nike boots, which hints at the latter being the case.
Either way, it will be interesting to see which boots Dembélé will wear if he gets any playing time tonight or in Barcelona's other upcoming games. Stay tuned for updates to this story as it evolves.
Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below.