Ex-Man Utd star and two-time title winner is unrecognisable in throwback picture

12 March 2023 , 11:07

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Fabien Barthez looked very different before the 1992/93 season with Marseille (Image: Christian Liewig/Corbis via Getty Images)

The man looking at you won the Premier League twice with Manchester United and has his name etched in football history as a true cult hero.

He spent four memorable years at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson, playing 139 times as part of a team packed full of club legends. But looking at him in his early days, you would be forgiven for not knowing who it was.

As English football fans knew him, Fabien Barthez was a charismatic and sometimes kamikaze goalkeeper synonymous with having a bald head. When he played in goal for France at their victorious 1998 World Cup campaign, he had no hair.

When he helped Les Bleus win the 2000 European Championship, he had no hair. When France finished runners-up at the 2006 World Cup – you guessed it – no hair.

And during his entire time at United, when he did his best to fill the gloves left by Peter Schmeichel, he had no hair on his head. But back in his early days, when he played for Toulouse and Marseille in his native France, Barthez had a fine head of hair on him.

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Fabien Barthez used to have a healthy head of hair (Christian Liewig/Corbis via Getty Images)

Fabien Barthez had a very different look in his early years (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images)

The revelation that Barthez used to have hair prompted some amusing comments from fans. One tweeted: "Looks like a working class actor in a popular 90s ITV drama series that had a breakout number 1 song."

Another simply posted a picture of Brookside Close. Another fan wrote: "Looks like a young Father Ted".

Starting his career in the south of France, Barthez turned out for Toulouse and Marseille. He won the Champions League with Marseille in 1992/93 before moving onto Monaco, where he spent five years and won two league titles, before getting his move to United.

Fabien Barthez with his trademark bald head at Manchester United (Phil Cole/Getty Images)

At some point in the intervening years, his hair disappeared and his shaved head became his calling card. It even formed the basis of his nickname.

Nicknamed Le Divin Chauve (The Divine Bald One), his bonce was regularly kissed by defender Laurent Blanc as a pre-match ritual for good luck.

He was pure box-office at United, full of reaction saves, but - more memorably - plenty of eccentric behaviour, taunting dribbles and step-overs past onrushing opposition players.

Defender Laurent Blanc had a ritual before and after games of kissing Barthez's head (Pool MERILLON/STEVENS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

When it came off it made him a fan favourite. When it didn't, it made him a bit of a clown figure in the Premier League, with his fair share of clangers. Still, he won two league titles with United before moving back to Marseille.

He retired in 2007 and moved into a career in motorsport. "I have always been fascinated by motorsport, even when I was playing football," he explained.

"It always intrigued me. I wanted to understand what it felt like being in a car. I had to wait until the end of my pro career to try it. That said, it’s not like football: you can still be good even when you are 35, which was my age when I stopped playing."

Felix Keith