Federico Bernardeschi was once touted as the next big thing in Italian football when Juventus signed him in 2017, but his career has ended up going downhill to the point where he’s not only playing for Toronto FC but also appears to totally transform his appearance to someone else too.
The Italian winger came through Fiorentina’s youth system and was one of their best players for multiple seasons. Bernardeschi was lauded in Italy for his creativity, ability to dribble past bodies with ease, impressive positional sense and ability to sniff out a goal or a goal-scoring chance in key moments.
After an excellent 2016-17 season for Fiorentina, scoring 11 goals in 32 Serie A appearances, Juventus roped him into their squad. However, he failed to really match his highs or replicate his heroics for the Turin giants, only scoring eight Serie A goals in over 130 appearances for them and not being able to prove himself as a spark for them.
Ultimately, he ended up leaving Europe itself and joining MLS side Toronto FC in 2022 as a designated player (one of three players that an MLS team can keep outside their salary cap). To his credit, Bernardeschi has actually done a pretty good job for the Canadian side so far.
He’s scored 13 goals and provided five assists in 40 appearances for them, but it appears that the change in lifestyle from Italy to Canada has forced him to get a face-lift.
Federico Bernadeschi debuts new look
Recently, the Italian midfielder posted a picture on his Instagram of his new appearance after attending the Toronto International Film Festival. There is a major difference in how he looks now than what the ex-Juventus star did during his time playing in Italy.
During his time with Juventus or Fiorentina, he kept his appearance pretty simple with a short hairstyle – even though he did take good care of himself. However, it appears that to keep up with the lifestyle in North America, the 29-year-old has taken a Hollywood influence for his look.
Bernardeshi has completely dyed his hair blonde and appears to have done some ‘enhancements’ or something to his facial features as well.
He’s almost ‘glowing’ more than before and worked on beautifying his appearance to ensure that he can attend these glamorous events without having to worry about what people might think of him.
Bernardeschi trolled after ‘Barbie’ look
Bernardeschi’s crazy transformation in appearance has stunned a lot of fans after they stumbled into his latest Instagram post. The first thing that comes to almost everyone’s mind is just how similar he looks to the character of ‘Ken’ portrayed by Ryan Gosling in the superhit 2023 film ‘Barbie’.
He seems to have taken a major influence from the Ken character, having a similar kind of hairstyle and overall nearly doll-like ‘glamour’ to how he looks. While the Italian midfielder appears to be in love with his latest appearance, it is only getting him heavily mocked on social media.
Apart from the comparisons to ‘Ken’, fans are also comparing him with other pop-culture icons or straight up to art statue faces because of how weird he looks now. There is still little clarity over exactly what inspired Bernardeschi to undergo this transformation, but he looks more like a model than a footballer now.
It’s clear that the 29-year-old has now just embraced the ‘glamour’ that a move to the MLS or North American football brings and has changed his look to make himself more presentable in events, even though it only seems to be attracting more mockery.
