For years, Michael Olise’s football boots turned up in hand-painted colourways sourced through the kind of Instagram resellers collectors use to find deadstock sneakers. The France international refused the sort of boot money a player of his standing is routinely offered, because he wanted to keep wearing a Nike model the brand itself had killed off in 2018.
That standoff is over. Nike has signed Olise on his first boot deal, Footy Headlines first reported on Friday, and the agreement is built around the very model he refused to put down. The brand is reviving the Hypervenom in 2027 with Olise as its face.
A player who sourced his boots on Instagram
The Hypervenom Phantom III debuted in early 2017 and was discontinued the following year. Olise has worn it since 2019, through his time at Reading, then Crystal Palace, and now at Bayern Munich. Because the boot is long out of production, he has had to chase down pairs through resellers to keep a rotation going, and routinely has them custom-painted so the colourway matches his kit on the day.
The commercial cost was substantial. Boot deals for players of Olise’s level, FourFourTwo reported, bring in £2m or more a year, money he turned down to stay in the Hypervenom. A source close to the player put it bluntly to L’Équipe earlier this year: he does not have a deal, and he is not interested in one.
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Nike has now built a product strategy around that habit. The brand plans to discontinue the Phantom line by 2027 to clear the way for a Hypervenom relaunch, and Olise is in line to headline the campaign, following in the footsteps of Neymar on the silo’s original run.
Nike’s answer after Mbappé
The timing matters. Nike has just lost its biggest football name: Kylian Mbappé ended his two-decade partnership with the brand in September to join Swiss company On, which handed him an equity stake and made him central to its push into football. Thierry Henry has joined On as director of football, and the brand plans to launch its own boot range in 2027.
Olise fills the hole from a different direction. Mbappé had to be persuaded away from Nike; Olise was already wearing the boots on his own, without asking for a cent.
According to Footy Headlines, Olise tested a whiteout version of the 2027 Hypervenom during France training in June.
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Adidas lost its own partner’s player
The signing also lands squarely on Adidas, which supplies Bayern Munich’s kit and holds a stake in the club. Landing one of Bayern’s marquee attackers would have been a natural fit, and the German brand did not get him. Olise’s long attachment to a specific Nike silo made him an unusual negotiation from the outset, but the result is a Bayern player wearing a direct rival on his feet.
The Hypervenom relaunch is scheduled for 2027.
