Max Blau, the global vice-president for Nike Football Footwear, has revealed the reason why the brand's top football client Cristiano Ronaldo always wears coloured boots on the field.
Blau, speaking toGoal, has claimed that black boots look 'slow' to the 31-year-old Portuguese superstar, which is why he never takes to the pitch in that colour.
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"When you feel better, you play better," Blau explained. "The main reason [for] the colour is to give confidence. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't like to wear black boots because he says black looks slow and he wants to feel fast.
"It all starts with [Ronaldo]. I think he's amazing but he's the first to say 'I can improve'. He says he can get better and will do his part, but he needs us to do ours too.
"That puts a lot of pressure on us. We have to come up with something to help him. That's how we came up with the new Mercurial Superfly (Ronaldo's current Nike boots).
"Every player has their favourite colour, and it's been scientifically proven that the colour of the boots activates chemicals in the player's mind," Blau continued.
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Blau also revealed that he jokes with Nike's army of uber-successful athletesabout howhis role is integral to theirsuccess.
"I sometimes say that I've won a couple of Grand Slams, Champions Leagues and World Cups," he added, potentially overplaying his hand somewhat. "I believe that I share a piece of that success.
"The most interesting part of my work is to strengthen human talents. The key is in the person but the product plays a big part.
"The same individual, under the same conditions will have a better performance if he wears a better product," Blau concluded, perhaps a little too keen to muscle in on the success of highly skilled and motivated athletes.