World Cup players who need to do a Wayne Rooney and get a hair transplant

Arjen Robben [Photo courtesy]

World Cup players who need to do a Wayne Rooney and get a hair transplant

The boss of Harley Street Hair Clinic where Roo had his barnet enhanced gives his assessment of World Cup players who need his magic touch

When Wayne Rooney had the first of two high-profile hair transplants in 2011, it attracted admiration and ­derision in equal measure.

But three years on his ­blossoming barnet has ensured he has the most talked about hairline in the Premiership.

The England striker’s fading fringe was restored at the Harley Street Hair Clinic in London where its clinical director Nadeem Uddin Khan carried out procedures over two years.

The operation, where follicles from the back of the head are transplanted at the front, could work for a few balding players at the World Cup in Brazil.

Here Nadeem gives his verdicts on our thinning hair XI:

Tim Haward

If Tim wanted to change his hairstyle, transplanting more hair to his temples would allow him more variety, but he is lucky because he’s a good looking guy who actually suits having his hair shaved off. We could toughen up his hairline, but sometimes someone’s lack of hair actually adds to their personality.

Vincent Kompany of Belgium

He has the most scope for improvement with a transplant. We could firm up the hairline and make it more prominent, especially with his slight beard. He’d look 21 again. He’s an example of where the shape of a head has a bearing on what work you have done. At the moment your attention is drawn to Kompany’s forehead rather than his face. And he is a good looking guy too with classic male features.

Gabriel Paletta of Italy

This is a difficult case so we’d probably use medication to block the production of Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a by-product of testosterone which causes hair loss in men. We’d wait until the hair loss stabilises. After that, transplanting at the front to re-establish the hairline and trying to thicken up behind would be highly beneficial.

Rodrigo Palacio of Argentina

 He would look tremendous just by thickening up the hairline at the sides. He has good hair quality too. The problem isn’t overall balding or even a receding hairline it’s just that the edge of his hairline is patchy and we’d want to add density.

Diego Godin of Uruguay

He’d be a great transplant candidate because just a small amount of transplantation at the front of his scalp would make a big difference. He would also benefit from changing his hairstyle. Godin has done what a lot of balding men do – grow their hair longer to distract from losing their hair, but all it does is in fact attract attention to it.

Andres Iniesta of Spain

 A hair transplant would take years off him because he actually has boyish good looks and his receding hairline makes him look so much older than he actually is. Having his hair longer ages him more than it should, too. Fortunately he has very good quality hair, which is crucial when transplanting, so we could go to town on him and produce a very good result.

Raul Meireles of Portugal

He’d be a good candidate for a transplant but we would have to look at the quality of his hair which seems slightly wispy. He’s lucky because he has a good structured face and jawline. The mohican he has doesn’t suit him, though. He’d probably be in the category where we might not be able to restore his complete hairline but we could improve it with transplants.

Gary Medel of Chile

 We would want to leave him alone. His hair looks great and he’s one of the guys who enjoys styling his hair. That shape is so distinctive for him – it’s like Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine hair. Maybe we would consider a transplant if the sides got thinner, but for now I like that natural mohican look. Sometimes it’s best to leave Mother Nature alone.

Arjen Robben of Netherlands

 His hair is a real challenge, to be honest, but he does look good with this very short style. We’d just make a small change by adding to the hairline so he’d look like he did maybe five years ago. It would be a subtle change which would go a long way.

Gordon Schildenfeld of Croatia

 He’d definitely have to have extensive work done to fill the sides and the middle, but just subtle changes to the sides can make a huge difference. We find that men who have extensive baldness like Schildenfeld are over the moon with a comparatively slight change. He is also lucky because he can grow a good beard and that is an alternative way of accentuating your facial features.

Konstatinos Mitroglou of Greece

If we did anything it would be to tweak the hairline, just to stop it looking so much like the snooker player Ray Reardon, level it out a little bit and not necessarily fill it all in. This is another good example of how a very small change would make a tremendous difference.