Gary Lineker joked that the stress of managing West Ham had caused Slaven Bilic to GAIN more hair rather than lose it.
And today the truth about the ex-Croatia boss’s hair transplant can be revealed.
The 48-year-old underwent a hair transplant at the end of last season – just days before he started appearing as a TV pundit for ITV during the
European Championship in June.
Viewers spotted the tell-tale signs of a procedure during the tournament – the red pin pricks on his scalp, scarring from where extra hair had been added to his hairline.
Four months on, the transplanted hair has grown back, and the transformation in Bilic’s hair is remarkable.
The difference is so noticeable that Match of the Day host Gary Lineker took to Twitter on Saturday to joke about Bilic’s procedure.
He wrote: “Most managers under the cosh might lose their hair, Slaven Bilic appears to be gaining it.”
Crown Clinic‘s hair transplant surgeon Asim Shahmalak, Britian’s leading expert on hair loss, said that Bilic had got a great result.
Dr Shahmalak said: “Slaven’s hair is looking fantastic and that is all down to a procedure he had shortly before the European Championship.
“He would have had it about two weeks before he first appeared on TV. In the first few games of the Euros it was clear that he was in the recovery phase. That’s why there was that the redness at the front of his scalp where the new hair had been transplanted. It also explains his hair cut.
“He has had a FUT (follicular unit transplantation) procedure, also known as strip harvesting. This is where a strip of skin is removed from the back or side of the scalp to harvest the donor hair. I think it is an FUT because of the length of the donor hair.”
Dr Shahmalak explained that newly transplanted hair falls out immediately after the operation while the follicles bed into their new home.
It takes several months for the transplanted hair to grow back fully which is why fans are only starting to see the benefits of Bilic’s procedure now – four months on from the Euros.
Dr Shahmalak said: “His new hair is really bedding in now and fans can see how the hair transplant has transformed his hairline. He has a good covering of hair right across his scalp and he looks years younger.
“And just as his hair has started growing back so West Ham’s performances on the pitch have improved, too, after a tough start to the season.
“So it is good news all around for Slaven!”
Dr Shahmalak said that lots of footballers had followed Wayne Rooney in having a hair transplant.
He said: “It all comes down to money. The image rights for a footballer like Rooney run into millions. The fact is, he is a lot more attractive to international brands if he has a full head of hair. There are very few global sporting icons who are bald.
“Wayne has done a great job preserving his hair and so has Slaven, too.”
Other Premiership managers who have also had hair transplants include Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp and Antonio Conte from Chelsea.
Dr Shahmalak – hair loss expert on the Channel 4 medical show Embarrassing Bodies – has performed procedures on a string of Premiership stars, most of whom prefer not to go public.
Ex-Liverpool and Man City star Didi Hamann, now a TV pundit, had an FUE (follicular unit extraction) hair transplant with Dr Shahmalak at Crown Clinic because he wanted to look younger on TV after being inspired by Wayne Rooney.
Didi said: “I have always like Wayne both as a player and as a human. I remember thinking when he had his hair done, ‘Good for him – he wants to look better and isn’t afraid to tell the world about it.’
“I’m the same. I am happy to go public and make clear that you can really benefit from giving nature a helping hand.”
Dr Shahmalak’s other celebrity clients include the TV doctor Christian Jessen and the model Calum Best.