He's Got No Hair but We Don't Care - 10 Golden Baldies in PL History (Part 1 of 3)

by Chris

Welcome to the seventeenth edition of the Sporting Lowdown advent calendar! This will be continued until the 24th December so any requests for my opinion will most likely be included in the 24 and in the future.

Now people have their reasons for being bald. Some by medical disruption, and some by choice, but this clearly has no effect on their footballing ability. Here are three of the very best we've seen in the PL era. If you want me to do more of these slightly more bizarre pieces then do let me know, and if you have any more suggestions for the best bald players there is always a possibility for a part 4!

10: Aaron MOOY

A very new addition to the league's list, Aaron Mooy has been an essential part of David Wagner's shock start for Huddersfield which sees them sit comfortably on 21 points, and scored twice recently in a very impressive 4-1 win away at Marco Silva's Watford.

The Aussie began his career in New South Wales at the NSWIS, before ironically being snapped up by Bolton Wanderers, although he never made a single appearance for The Trotters. He played for his country at the 2009 u20 World Cup, where we also saw stars such as Ander Herrera and Salomon Rondon, which Ghana eventually went on to win.

He moved up to Scotland with St Mirren in 2010, making 21 appearances and scoring once, where he still had a full head of hair! He never really made his mark at St.Mirren Park, and he returned to his homeland to become an inaugural signing of Western Sydney Wanderers, again still sporting a full head of hair, and he guided his new club to a Premiership title and a Grand Final appearance. He again saw his team finish runner up the following season, which eventually led to the silky Aussie moving to Melbourne City, owned then by Khaldoon Al-Mubarak, owner of Manchester City and the City Sports Group.

He was named Player of the Year in his first season with the newly named City, and in total made 53 league appearances, scoring 18 times for them. He also broke an A-League record by assisting 20 in his second season, as the City Blues finished 4th.

He was then snapped up by Man City, the club also chaired by Al-Mubarak, but was immediately loaned out to David Wagner's Huddersfield town, where he played 45 times, scoring 4 in their playoff winning season and was signed permanently for a rumoured £10m, which is ironically more than what Al-Mubarak paid for Melbourne City in its entirety. 

Mooy is Huddersfield's talisman currently, and without his goals against Newcastle, Man United and Watford, plus his excellent performances, the Terriers would not be where they are currently, but languishing in a tougher relegation battle.

9: Esteban CAMBIASSO

Leicester City's forgotten man it seems, if it wasn't for the performances of Cambiasso in the previous season, would Leicester have been in the Premier League to win the title? The shock signing of the Argentine in the summer of 2015 must have bolstered the mood in the Foxes dressing room, a Champions League winner, a La Fabrica product, played under managers such as Mourinho, Mancini and now Nigel Pearson.

Having began his youth career at Argentinos Juniors, he moved quickly to the La Fabrica academy of Real Madrid. He was promoted to the Castilla team in 1996, playing 42 times and scoring 4 times. 

He returned to Argentina in 1998, joining Independiente, playing 98 times and scoring 14. He then joined River plate in 2001, playing a further 37 times and scoring 12 more, citing a return to Los Blancos the following year. He had the ignominy of never scoring for Real's first eleven, although he was a part of the UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental cup winning sides of 2002, and the La Liga winning side of 2003.

His career as a European star undeniably began as he moved to Inter Milan in the summer of 2004, becoming an essential figure in the Nerazzurri's eleven for the next decade, playing 315 times in Serie A, scoring 41 times. He won the Serie A 5 times, the last coming in the treble winning season of 09-10 under Jose Mourinho, 4 Coppa Italia's, and a Club World Cup. 

So Cambiasso joined Leicester, perhaps somewhat unfashionable considering his previous employers, but Cambiasso had a stunning season in Leicester Blue, being voted Player of the Year by the club's supporters. He played 31 times, scoring 5, including an equaliser in the famous 5-3 victory over Louis Van Gaal's Manchester United, where United led 3-1 with half an hour left. He left the club by mutual consent, after rejecting a contract offered by Leicester, and joined Greek giants Olympiakos.

He signed for Olympiakos in 2016 and helped Thrylos to retain their Greek Superleague title twice. After 2 years at the club, he retired on 8 September 2017, focusing on a career in coaching.

8: Brad FRIEDEL

The American keeper hung up his boots back in 2015, Brad Friedel finished his career with a sublime 450 Premier League appearances, putting him 22nd on the all time list. 

The shiny head of Brad Friedel made it's first senior appearance in goal for Turkish giants Galatasaray, playing 30 times for 'Cimbom' before moving to Columbus Crew in 1996. He made 38 appearances before securing his big move to Anfield.

Roy Evans, statistically the Reds' best ever manager in the Premier League era, announced the signing of Brad Friedel for a fee of approximately £1.7m. The colossus of a 'keeper started brightly under massive scrutiny at Anfield, but eventually fell behind due to poor form and mistakes, and was a backup to David James, and later Sander Westerveld.

He was then signed by promotion chasing Blackburn Rovers under former Red Graeme Souness. His solidarity and consistency in goal helped them retain their Premier League status. In this spell he performed memorably at Wembley in the League Cup Final against future employers Spurs, a stunning performance in a win at Highbury, and was described as 'Superman' by then then Southampton manager Gordon Strachan. He stayed a Rovers player until 2008.

He was being scoped by European hopefuls Aston Villa and Manchester City, joining the former on the 25 July 2008. In this season, he broke the record for continuous games in the Pl, with his 167th justly ending in a 0-0 draw against Fulham. This run continued for his entire career at Aston Villa, and after his contract ended, he joined a rising Tottenham Hotspur. 

He joined in 2011, and continued his astonishing run of consecutive matches as Spurs finished 4th in their best season in the Premier League to that date. In 2012, after the arrival of France Captain Hugo Lloris from Lyon, his consecutive games run was in jeopardy. But the manager Andre Villas-Boas announced that Friedel would continue as number one. His run finally ended on 310 on October 7 2012, where he was named behind Lloris against Aston Villa.

He now after serving as U.S u19 manager, is manager of New England revolution in the MLS.

I hope you enjoyed Part 1 of the Golden Baldies, and the next two will be out in coming days!

Chris :)