The Umbro Speciali R Pro features a lightweight Kangaroo leather and full grain leather upper gives a great feel, touch and flexibility. Asymmetrical lacing provides a larger, flatter striking surface. This stunning shoe is built around the Evolved original Speciali shoe last to have the same snug, professional fit. The removable sock-liner has Poron Performance Urethane zoned inserts to provide extra comfort. The dual density texon insole board improves support and flexibility. The soft micro-fiber collar lining provides optimum comfort. Lightweight TPU outsole offers improved stability and an internal film application allows for distinct design direction.
Comfort/ Fit
I have worn a lot of shoes in the last couple of months, but none as comfortable as these. The kangaroo leather is super soft and just feels great on your foot. Once you pull the laces tight, the shoe seems to wrap around your foot perfectly, making for an excellent fitting shoe. It is a shoe that you can definitely wear right out of the box, with minimal break-in time. This shoe also sports a strange lacing system, with only a couple of lace holes, but it does a great job of securing your foot in place. The lacing system also incorporates 2 v-shaped pieces of leather, that when pulled in with the laces, gives the shoe a tight feeling on the sides of your feet that I find is something you don’t usually get from a full leather shoe. This shoe is an average width, as I had no problems wearing them with a narrower foot. I would say that any foot type would work in this shoe. The only thing to note is that as I did wear my usual size 9US in this shoe, I could have gone a half size down. If you like your shoes to fit very tightly, then go a half size down. If not, order your usual size.
Weight
For a full kangaroo leather shoe, this Umbro is pretty light. At 9.2oz, this shoe is by no means heavy. The tight fit of the shoe also makes the shoe feel a little lighter as well. They aren’t light to the point where you will notice the weight, but they certainly won’t be slowing you down.
Traction
This is where Umbro kind of made a hit and miss, at the same time. The shoe has a hard ground stud pattern, made of pretty short and slim round studs. They aren’t dramatically smaller than a firm ground stud pattern, but they are slightly shorter. It is a more traditional style stud pattern, but that’s not the problem. The problem is that they really are made mostly for hard ground. In any kind of softer ground conditions, you will slip. In a firm ground environment, you shouldn’t have any problems. The way I see it is, if you almost never slip in firm ground shoes, you won’t have any problems wearing this hard ground stud pattern. I would also highly recommend this shoe for turf, as the shorter studs are the perfect length for turf.
Touch
This is the greatest strength of this shoe. The leather quality is superb, and you will feel this quality when touching the ball. The leather provides the perfect amount of padding when controlling the ball. The ball just seems to control itself when it hits your foot. You get a feeling of confidence when making all kinds of small touches on the ball. There’s not much else to say in terms of touch. I loved the touch on the Nike CTR360 Maestri, but I have to say that I do prefer the touch on these shoes.
Shooting
I thoroughly enjoyed shooting with these shoes as well. The tongue this shoe has the perfect amount of padding when striking through the ball. The ball just seemed to fly off of my foot. The soft leather also provides some good grip for bending the ball. This is a more traditional styled shoe so you get everything you need, and nothing you don’t.
Durability
This shoe is really well made. Just holding it in your hand you can feel how well made this shoe is. The kangaroo leather does stretch, but not enough to affect the longevity of the shoe. I also noticed that the bond between the sole and the upper is very well done. This is definitely a shoe that you can rely on to last you an entire season, if not longer.
Protection
I would definitely say that this is a fairly protective shoe. The kangaroo leather is not super thin, so you get that extra padding, should you get stepped on. The heel has an internal plastic shell too, so kicks in the heels should not be a problem. This is definitely a more protective shoe than most synthetic shoes, and even most leather shoes.
The Verdict
I was really impressed with this shoe. The quality of the kangaroo leather, as well as the fit and comfort that they provide is phenomenal. This is a traditional styles shoe with modern touches, that only improve on the classics. Had Umbro made this shoe with a firm ground sole plate, it would have only been better. Having said that, you can get away with wearing these on firm ground. There is not another shoe that provides the same amount of quality for the price.
| Comfort/Fit | 10 out of 10 |
| Weight | 8 out of 10 |
| Traction | 7 out of 10 |
| Touch | 10 out of 10 |
| Shooting | 8 out of 10 |
| Protection | 8 out of 10 |
| Durability | 8 out of 10 |
| FINAL SCORE | 59 out of 70 or 84% |
