Graeme Souness has swapped his perm and moustache for a silver stubble, while Andrea Pirlo has aged like a fine wine and Gary Lineker and Roberto Mancini still look fit enough to play… which footballers look younger now than during their careers?

• Andrea Pirlo and Roberto Mancini have aged like fine wines 
• Graeme Souness and Gary Lineker have mastered the grey-hair look 
• Mail Sport’s new WhatsApp Channel: Get the breaking news and exclusives here 

Chances are that if you have been on the internet or checked social media over the past couple of years you would have come across a gallery of pictures of footballers ageing badly.

You know the type, side-by-side pictures of an obscure striker of a mid-table club in the late 1980s who now looks 72, despite being 15 years younger. 

There are even social media accounts dedicated to footballers who looked to be well into their fifth decade, despite having just turned 23.

There are, however, notable exceptions to both of the above. Players to whom the years have not only been kind but who, in some cases, look even better than when they played. 

Here, Mail Sport takes a walk down memory lane to see which footballers have aged like the proverbial fine wine.

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Graeme Souness

Younger football fans may be struggled to get their heads around the fact the immaculately dressed pundit that graced Sky Sports’ studio until last season once sported a perm and moustache.

But Souness, like several of his contemporaries, did. 

The former Liverpool great held onto his prized moustache long after he swapped the pitch for the dug out.

But as his punditry career took over, out went the 1990s tracksuit and the facial hair and in came tailor-made suits and short-cropped hair. 

Graeme Souness mastered the silver-stubble look to perfection as a pundit

The perm and handlebar moustache from his Liverpool playing days are long gone

Souness held onto this prized moustache even during his managerial career 

Gary Lineker 

The days of Gary Lineker sporting the haircut of an indie band frontman before indie bands became a thing during his days at Barcelona are long gone.

The former England star has perfected the swap from star ruthless goalscorer to opinionated TV host as seamlessly as he has swapped the fringe for thick-rimmed glasses and perfectly-kept silver stubble.

And anyone brave enough to present Match of the Day in his underwear at the tender age of 56, surely deserves some credit. 

Gary Lineker sported an indie band-frontman look during his playing days

But the former England striker has since swapped it for a thick-rimmed glasses and perfectly cropped grey hair in his role as BBC pundit

Roberto Mancini

There are men who are good at football and men who are good looking. Then there are footballers who excel both on the pitch and as managers. Roberto Mancini empathically ticks off all three boxes.

A Serie A icon as a player for Sampdoria and Lazio, the 58-year-old won seven major trophies as a manager in Italy, including three Serie A titles with Inter Milan.

He led Manchester City to their first trophy in 35 years and then to arguably the most dramatic Premier League title in history, before piloting Italy to Euro 2020 glory.

Oh and yes, he achieved the latter while looking the part in tailored-made Armani suits and has looked in incredibly good nick for a man two years short of his 60th birthday. 

Roberto Mancini was a Serie A icon with Sampdoria and Lazio (above) 

The Italian stole the show at Euro 2020, with his tailor-made Armani suits 

Andrea Pirlo

If Italian footballers age like fine wines, then who better to decode the secret to eternal youth than a man who happens to be a wine connoisseur and who also runs his own vineyard?

Nobody mastered the transition from young, scraggy-haired midfielder to front-of-coffee-table-magazine bearded artist quite like the former Milan and Juventus star.

As he grew older, Pirlo pulled the strings in midfield with such effortlessness that you could have been forgiven for thinking he was about to pour himself a glass of Chianti and sit down to read the Sunday paper.

Andrea Pirlo has mastered the transition from scraggy-haired midfielder to front-of-coffee-table-magazine bearded artist

The Italian has aged like a fine wine, which is apt given he’s a wine connoisseur

Teddy Sheringham 

Sir Alex Ferguson was criticised for signing Teddy Sheringham in 1997. Why, common wisdom went, was Fergie recruiting a 31-year-old striker who’d never been blessed with pace to begin with?

The Scot, as ever, ultimately had the last laugh as Sheringham wrote himself in Manchester United’s folklore with the crucial equaliser in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich.

After leaving Old Trafford aged 35, Sheringham played on for another seven years before eventually retiring. Through it all, he rarely seemed to age at all and the trend has continued long after he hung up his boots.

Teddy Sheringham left Spurs for a second time at 37 but played on for another five years

The former England striker has barely aged since retiring from football in 2008

Sheringham remains in tip-top shape and regularly plays golf on the senior circuit

Alessandro del Piero

The former Juventus star has had as many looks as he’s won trophies. Musketeer goatee along with a big mop of hair? Check. Wet-gel look like a boyband front man? Check. Crew cut World Cup winner? Tick.

You get the picture. 

Ironically, Del Piero has settled on the same look after retiring, refining the look he had adopted towards the end of his career, which makes him look like a young startup entrepreneur. 

Alessandro Del Piero (left) went through a number of looks throughout his career

From wet-look gel to crew cut for the 2006 World Cup, the Italian has changed look often

But he has now settled on a look since retiring and looks every bit a successful entrepreneur

Antonio Conte

If you were to look at pictures of Antonio Conte scoring at Old Trafford in the 1999 Champions League semi-final and of winning the league with Inter Milan in 2021, you could be forgiven for thinking the former picture is the most recent.

The transformation a receding hairline to a full head of hair has been as seamless as his switch from hard-working midfielder to title-winning manager.

And Conte isn’t the only footballer to have turned to hair transplants, as Wayne Rooney can testify.

Antonio Conte was renowned for his receding hairline during his career

But the former Tottenham boss has sported a full head of hair for years now

Jurgen Klinsmann 

Aside from Gazza’s tears, Lineker’s ‘Have a word with him’ moment and Roger Milla’s dancing by the corner flag, does anything scream Italia 90 louder than Jurgen Klinsmann lifting the World Cup in that vintage Germany top?

Iconic as the picture may be, however, it is fair to say the years have been kind to the former Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Spurs striker.

After retiring, Klinsmann moved to the US and, aptly, swapped a scraggy mop of blonde hair for a Silicon Valley look with a de-rigueur slim fit shirt, chinos and the white-soled shoes every football pundit seems to wear.

Jurgen Klinsmann was famous for his mop of blonde hair in his playing days

The German now looks like the CEO of a successful Silicon Valley tech firm

David Prutton 

The fact Leeds United call him Jesus paints a pretty clear picture of what David Prutton used to look like during his playing days.

His long hair kept in place by a headband, he looked every bit like a tough-tackling South American midfielder from the 1980s.

Fast forward a decade and Prutton has morphed into the Championship’s lead presenter on Sky Sports, with his long locks and stubble replaced by smartly slicked-back hair.

David Prutton was known as Jesus during his days at Leeds because of his flowing locks

The 41-year-old has long done away with long hair as he became the face of the Championship on Sky Sports as the broadcaster’s lead presenter

Francesco Totti 

Perhaps it’s the Mediterranean diet or perhaps it’s the wine, but you could compile a list of footballers ageing gracefully just by selecting Serie A players.

Francesco Totti, of course, features and not just because at the age of 46 he’s still capable of pinging one into the top corner as recent internet footage showed.

Like Del Piero, the former Roma captain went through several looks in his career, from the teenage sensation after making his debut at 16 to the boyband frontman stage.

And yet, he looks to have barely aged in the three decades since he first played in Serie A. 

Francesco Totti (here in 1999) made his Serie A debut for Roma aged just 16 in March 1993

The Roma legend went through a series of looks throughout his career 

Totti still looks incredibly young and in prime physical condition for a 46-year-old 

Michael Laudrup

With his wavy hair and immaculately tailor-made suits, Laudrup looks as suave at the age of 59 as he did when rampaging through midfield for Denmark in the 1980s and 1990s.

Aptly for a man who aged like a fine wine, Laudrup launched a business importing Spanish wine to Denmark three decades ago and hasn’t looked back.

Michael Laudrup (left) was one of the greatest players in the 1980s and 1990s

The Danish superstar has barely aged and looks younger than his 59 years of age

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