Erling Haaland has tormented defences throughout his illustrious career, but the Norwegian is reaching dizzying new heights this season.
The sharpshooting of Manchester City’s No. 9 knows no bounds, with 24 goals in just 15 matches for club and country this term. Only Tottenham Hotspur have been able to thwart the 25-year-old, who is on course to topple countless records during the remainder of the campaign.
Haaland is on a one-man mission to restore Manchester City to the summit of world football after a challenging 2024–25 season, but it seems the Scandi marksman can’t take sole credit for his unbelievable form.
In fact, a new ground-breaking innovation from Nike has been instrumental to his astonishing hit rate in front of goal.
Erling Haaland Debuts Latest Nike Innovation
Haaland is one of Nike’s signature athletes and has been benefitting from the sportswear brand’s brand new neuroscience-based footwear designed to help athletes feel “calm, focused and present” both before and after competition.
The fresh Mind 001 and Mind 002 sneakers have sensory receptors underfoot which access key areas of the brain and help stimulate recovery and activate awareness. 22 foam nodes are placed on the bottom of the shoe to impart the feeling and even texture of the ground, allowing athletes to feel more connected to their surroundings.
The Mind 001 is flexible and water-resistant, while it also offers “easy-on, easy-off convenience.” The Mind 002 “anchors the foot to the footbed for increased sensation and support.”
The Mind 001 and Mind 002 have been developed over the past decade within Nike’s Sports Research Lab, with Haaland debuting the technology.
“Nike Mind is a new sensory-footwear concept that helps reawaken the foot, the body and the mind,” revealed Eric Avar, Creative Director at Nike. “It represents a new paradigm of performance and how we can potentially make athletes better in the future.”
The neuroscience-based footwear marks the beginning of the Nike Mind platform curated by Nike’s Mind Science Department. It’s one of four major projects revealed by the sportswear giants on Thursday, Oct. 24 alongside Aero-fit, Project Amplify and Therma fit.
“Focus is everything in football,” said Haaland, who has been regularly testing Nike Mind footwear over the past five years. “Every step I take, I think of the shoe and what I feel in my feet—which is a good thing. It helps me to bring balance to my game.”
The Nike Mind 001 and Mind 002 will be available in January 2026 at nike.com and select stores.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Ground-Breaking Technology Underpinning Erling Haaland’s Scoring Streak.