Finding the best football boots for wingers is essential, with options available for pacy widemen who love to hug the touchline and mazy dribblers who drift into dangerous positions.
Boots are manufactured with performance in mind these days, with certain ranges specifically designed to assist defenders, midfielders, wingers and attackers. FFT has been dedicating itself to categorising designs to make boot shopping easier for you. If you're simply looking for the best football boots out right now, be sure to check out our other reviews.
But here you'll find the best football boots on the market right now for wingers...
Best football boots for wingers: Adidas X SPEEDPORTAL
(Image credit: Adidas)
As worn by: Lionel Messi, Vivianne Miedema, Mohamed Salah
Released in conjunction with a specially made Rick and Morty short, the Adidas X SPEEDPORTAL boots are a natural evolution from the last X model while upgrading on the look, feel and comfort of the model.
As worn by: Cristiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland
The latest in the peerless Nike Mercurial range, the Air Zoom Superfly IX, dropped in July 2022 and was given its first run out at the Women's Euros. They'll be worn in the coming season by some of the biggest stars in the men and women's game, including at Qatar 22.
Aside from looking drop dead gorgeous, in FFT's opinion at least, the Air Zoom Superfly IX is among the lightest boots on the market and offer unbeatable traction – making them ideal for speedy attacking players. The almost sticky skin on the upper is designed to assist with your touch, passing and shooting, while also offering decent protection.
This is arguably the best football boot ever made.
As worn by: Vinicius Jr, Jack Grealish, Jadon Sancho, Cristiano Ronaldo
Arguably the best football boot on the market right now. In our Nike Mercurial Superfly 8 football boots review, we praised the lightness of these boots in particular. At just 190g, this is among the lightest boots ever, despite being made from a material that does offer genuine protection and durability. They're so noticeably light, that even FFT (not quite blessed with the speed, say, of a young Theo Walcott) felt the difference in a game situation. They also offer great traction thanks to a unique stud pattern and are tight on the foot without any chance of coming off.
The latest Mercurial Superly also boasts 'Anti-Clog Traction' technology. So if your Sunday league pitches are susceptible to heavy rainfall and poor drainage, they could be a good option – no more stud plates caked in mud after the first five minutes of a game.
Lastly, they look the part, come in a huge range of colours AND you can customise your own pair on the Nike store if you're really up for pushing the boat out. If you can afford them (they are pricey), they're worth every penny. Trust us.
While the latest Tiempo's have beensnapped adorning the feet of a host of players in varying positions, FFT'sNike Tiempo Legend 9 football boots review points out the fact that these are, in fact, boots built for attacking players. That's because, while extremely comfortable and durable, they're among the lightest on the market, weighing in at only 207g.
It also features a number of other little nifty gadgets, inclduing memory foam and touch pods, designed to specifically help forwards cross, shoot, dribble and control the ball. The chevron studs have been specially designed to add traction, helping wingers change direction more easily – perfect for bursting past defenders.
This is a stunning all-round boot, and one any attack-minded players should consider adding to their toolkit.
As worn by: Neymar, Marco Reus, Christian Pulisic, Kingsley Coman
In our recent Puma Future Z Lazertouch football boots review, we praised the authentic leather feel of the boots worn by some of the nippiest wingers in world football. Neymar's version of the Future Z are lighter still, made by synthetic material as opposed to the leather on the Lazertouch, so you have a choice.
The boots are a fantastic fit, offer superb traction, look stunning and are light enough to make you feel as if you're wearing carpet slippers. More than any other boot on the planet, the Future Z is geared towards wingers specifically, and come in a range of easy-on-the-eye colours.
As worn by: Sadio Mané, Raheem Sterling, Harvey Elliot
Lightweight, colourful and with touches of blue and red across them that just look beautiful, the New Balance Furon V6+ Pro are an absolute triumph. These boots will give wingers the edge in a foot race since they're so weightless – but they're also comfortable, too.
These are the boots that the likes of Sadio Mané and Bukayo Saka wear. Perfect for a speedster, these shoes look the part, too – and it's important for your forwards to have the style to back up their talent, right?
In order to provide as much detail as we possibly can, our testers wear each pair of football boots over multiple training sessions, matches and kickabouts to ascertain the true performance levels each pair offers. We focus on a number of key areas to get provide plenty of useful information, including the stability, comfort, fit and feet of each boot.
Of course, this guide is for wingers looking for options that will help them speed away from opponents, so more lightweight boots that perform well when chopping and changing direction will inevitably feature.
With our experienced testers cutting right to the crux of the performance levels of each boot, you won't have to worry about the marketing jargon each brand claims makes their boots the best - because we've worn them on a number of occasions!
How to choose the right pair of football boots
Finding the right soccer cleat can prove a difficult task in the modern day, with each brand claiming they've created something with the best technology humanly possible. What we've tried our best to do, however, is cut through the marketing jargon right to the core of what each cleat is like.
There are a range of different factors to consider. From sizing to fit and feel, there are some important aspects of choosing the right pair of football boots.
Styling
It all comes down to personal preference, but there are so many options available on the market nowadays that each model comes in a range of different colourways - meaning there's inevitably something for everyone. What your boots look like ulitmately isn't important, but feeling good can certainly help with confidence levels and performing to your best.
Leather or synthetic
The majority of football boots are now made from synthetic, though there are still a good amount of leather options. Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference, though we'd recommend wingers go for synthetic.
That's because synthetic boots are generally a lot lighter, the upper is a lot thinner, and thus better-suited for wingers wanting to utilise their pace and dribbling abilities.
Leather does provide more protection than synthetic boots, however, so if you're concerned about defenders injuring you, choosing the more natural option could actually be a benefit.
Getting the right fit
We'd always recommend you try a pair of football boots on first before buying, especially when considering how expensive they can be. So head to a shop, see which boots suit your foot type best, and ascertain what feels most comfortable.
After all, it's more important your feet are protected and don't get riddled with blisters than what the pair you're playing in actually look like.
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Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
