15 Players Who Are Older Than They Look
Eventually everyone has to grow old, even professional footballers, although as in all walks of life, some are able to pull it off better than others!
And somehow these 15 players—who are all much older than they actually look—really do seem to have beaten the ageing process, judging by their forever-young appearance…
Javier Hernandez
1 of 15
Incredibly fresh-faced Real Madrid hitman Javier Hernandez is now 26 years of age, when let’s face it folks, the Mexico international does not look a day older than 19, at best!
And you get the very distinct feeling that in a similar way to his former Manchester United team-mate Ryan Giggs, “Chicharito” will actually look exactly the same in 10 years’ time too!
However, maybe it helps that the fox-in-the-box striker has spent the majority of the last four years simply warming the substitutes’ bench at Old Trafford?
David Silva
2 of 15
To think that twinkle-toed Manchester City playmaker David Silva actually made his first-team debut for his first-ever club Eibar back in the 2004-05 campaign?
Not only that, but the diminutive Spain international was also born in the same year that Mexico 86 took place, with Silva soon to turn 29!
So yes, the midfielder who currently does not look a day older than 18 is now just a year and a half away from entering his thirties.
And not only that, but you just know that the former Valencia star will also retain his youthful looks for many more years to come, making you wonder what exactly they put in the water in Gran Canaria, where Silva was born and grew up!
Javier Zanetti
3 of 15
When evergreen Inter Milan midfielder Javier Zanetti finally decided to hang up his boots in May 2014 after a glittering career at San Siro, it was not only the fact that the Argentinian had played a record-breaking 858 games for the Serie A giants across a 19-year period was astonishing.
No, it was also that the versatile player, who was soon to turn 41, did not look a day older than 25!
However, that would have come as no surprise to anyone who had followed "El Tractor’s” career since he joined the Nerazzurri from Banfield back in the summer of 1995.
As if you look at the full-back cum winger on his Inter debut against Vicenza in August 1995, the scary thing is that Zanetti looks exactly the same as he did on his final-ever appearance for the club at Chievo last May!
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
4 of 15
Former Manchester United frontman Ole Gunnar Solskjaer did not earn the moniker “The Baby-Faced Assassin” throughout his goal-laden career for nothing.
At the same time, however, the fact that the Norwegian is now 41 years of age really does take some believing, and even more so when you consider the stresses and strains that Solskjaer has been under recently while in charge of Cardiff City.
And yet, even after eight months of having to deal with the constant interferings of Bluebirds owner Vincent Tan, Solskjaer still somehow manages to look as though he has just taken his GCSE exams!
Sergio Aguero
5 of 15
It seems incredible to think that prolific Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero actually made his professional bow for Independiente in the season that immediately preceded the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals in South Korea and Japan.
I mean, looking at the pocket-sized Argentina international, you would not think that “Kun” could possibly be a day over 21, and yet at the end of this campaign the player will actually be turning 27!
And that also means that Aguero will soon be entering the last phase of his days as a goal scorer, when it seems as though the attacker has only just started out in his career.
Gael Clichy
6 of 15
I had to double-check that Manchester City left-back Gael Clichy was indeed born in 1985.
And to my absolute amazement, the Frenchman was, which makes the player 29, although I would be astonished if anyone could ever accurately predict his age.
In fact, it seems even more far-fetched that Clichy spent eight whole years bombing down Arsenal’s left flank, while the attack-mined full-back—who still looks as though he has just started university—probably only has another five years left at the top!
Oscar
7 of 15
Look, I know that skillful Chelsea playmaker Oscar is only 23 years old, but come on everyone, the baby-faced Brazil international would have huge trouble even trying to buy a packet of cigarettes in the UK.
And that is because the one-time Sao Paulo and Internacional starlet could make a more than passable impression of a teenager at present, despite his current status as Calvin Klein’s latest underwear model!
Dwight Gayle
8 of 15
Okay, hold on to your seats folks, as I am here to reveal that fresh-faced Crystal Palace striker Dwight Gayle will be 25 later this month!!
Yes, it is true, the Englishman who would not look out of place at all in a classroom full of A-Level students is now in the bracket of the mature, experienced centre-forward!
I know, it’s crazy, isn’t it?!
Glen Johnson
9 of 15
Liverpool right-back Glen Johnson is currently involved in a contract dispute with the club’s American owners, the Fenway Sports Group, about extending the England international’s career at Anfield beyond the end of his current next summer.
The Reds hierarchy are seemingly not prepared to offer Johnson—who earns a whopping £120,000 per week on Merseyside at present—more than a 12-month extension.
And the reason for FSG’s reluctance to keep hold of the marauding full-back beyond the end of June 2016?
Well, it is because the youthful-looking Johnson—to many people’s surprise I can imagine—actually turned 30 years old in August, meaning the player has now passed the required cut-off age for those wanting to be offered new long-term deals by the Reds.
Ashley Young
10 of 15
Despite his surname, Manchester United winger Ashley Young is actually not that young at all!
Incredibly, the occasional Red Devils and England international wide man is set to enter his thirties next year, although you would be hard pressed to know that from just looking at the player.
In fact, it is not that unreasonable to say that the baby-faced Young resembles exactly the same player who made his professional debut for Watford back in September 2003, the lucky guy!!
Michael Owen
11 of 15
From the very first moment ex-Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City striker Michael Owen burst onto the scene by scoring on his Reds debut aged just 17 in May 1997, the player has somehow managed to retain the most youthful of looks.
In fact, even since retiring and moving into the commentary box with BT Sport, the Englishman still has the appearance of an angelic choirboy, which trust me, does not half take some doing when you are about to hit 35 at the end of the year!
Adam Johnson
12 of 15
Maybe it is all the time spent twiddling his thumbs on the substitutes’ bench at Manchester City that has allowed England flyer Adam Johnson to shave a good five years off his current appearance!
Either way, however, it is still startling to discover that the speedy Sunderland wide man—who made less than 100 appearances in all competitions in three seasons at the City of Manchester Stadium—is actually 27 years old at present, when Johnson still resembles former Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis in his heyday.
Thierry Henry
13 of 15
One of the more remarkable aspects of New York Red Bulls forward Thierry Henry’s now 20-year career at the very top of the game is just how little the Frenchman’s appearance has actually changed during that time.
Take a look back for instance at Titi during his days as an AS Monaco player in the mid-to-late '90s and apart from a change of haircut, there really is very little difference from the silky-smooth footballer you see today in the Big Apple.
And yet Henry has now reached the grand old age—at least in footballing terms that is—of 37, not that you would know it though from looking at him!
Theo Walcott
14 of 15
Hold on to your seats everyone, as it turns out that Arsenal flyer Theo Walcott was actually born in the '80s, with the seemingly ever-young wide man turning 26 in March!!
Sure “Baby Theo”—who actually made his professional debut for former club Southampton almost 10 years ago now—has spent a large proportion of his career so far on the treatment table.
However, that still does not explain how the speedy winger can look exactly how he did when first appearing on our TV screens back in 2005, in other words, like a 16-year-old just starting out in the game!
And yet one would have thought that being selected to take part in your first World Cup at the age of just 17, as Walcott was by Sven-Goran Eriksson back in 2006, would have considerably aged the player!!
Lionel Messi
15 of 15
And finally, we have the four-time FIFA Ballon d’Or winner himself—Barcelona playmaker Lionel Messi—a man who has unbelievably been lighting up our TV screens for very nearly a decade now, as unlikely as that sounds.
I say unlikely, as little Leo today has barely changed one iota in looks from the forward who made his Barca bow against local rivals Espanyol at the tender age of 17 years and 114 days back on October 16, 2004.
Yet in actual fact “The Atomic Flea” turned 27 this summer, although it seems like the world’s greatest player has somehow not managed to age a jot in the intervening 10-year period!
