From Chukwuemeka to Lavia: Meet the 9 Players Sporting Dreadlocks in 23/24 Chelsea Squad

Chelsea tasted their first bitter pill of the 2023/24 season, going down to a damning 3-1 loss to a 10-man West Ham United side on Sunday (August 20) – but fans also managed to catch an interesting pattern in a lot of their players’ hairstyles.

Mauricio Pochettino appears to be intent on relying on young blood to take Chelsea back to the promised land, and a number of youngsters started the game against West Ham.

Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell and Thiago Silva were the only players above the age of 25 to start the game for the Blues, with the majority still in their developing years.

That could perhaps be a reason why the Blues completely broke down in the second half after a pretty decent performance in the first 45 minutes.

Even though they went behind in the early part of the game due to a goal from Nacef Aguerd, Chelsea took control of the game and fought their way back into the game.

Fans notice multiple Chelsea players with dreadlocks

Towards the end of the game, young midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka scored an impressive strike to bring things level and fans were quick to notice a weird pattern in terms of the hairstyle for many of the Chelsea players in the goal celebrations.

Immediately, fans noticed that multiple Chelsea players have almost the same hairstyle, which includes braiding their hair – probably done to keep it in one place during the time frame of the game.

Not only Chukwuemeka, but other Chelsea stars like Axel Disasi, Malo Gusto and Raheem Sterling all seemed to have almost identical dreadlock hairstyles.

Also known as locs or dreads, dreadlocks can be described as ‘rope-like stands of hair formed by matting of braiding hair’. Of course, dreadlocks are not permanent and can easily be undone by unraveling the hair or cutting them if necessary – so it’s not guaranteed that these players keep this permanently when not playing for Chelsea.

With that being said, the players who started the game for the Blues were not the only ones to show off their dreadlocks style at all.

Even substitute Lesley Ugochukwu has a similar locks style and was seen donning it in the touchline when he was warming up during Chukwuemeka’s strike.

English winger Noni Madueke seems to have dreadlocks, which is often covered by the large headband that he wears to protect his hair. Interestingly, a number of Chelsea players who were not in the squad (due to injury or otherwise) have a similar hair pattern as well.

Which else Chelsea players have dreadlocks too?

The Blues’ new signing Christopher Nkunku, currently out with a knee injury, also donned a similar dreadlocks style in his appearances for them in the pre-season tour of USA before picking up his knock.

Their newest arrival Romeo Lavia also appears to be a fan of the dreadlocks, as seen in his appearance in the unveiling after moving from Southampton.

Another injured Chelsea player, Trevoh Chalobah, has a similar locks style as well – and has pulled it off on many occasions in the past while playing for them.

Even Captain Reece James had dreadlocks at one point before cutting his hair completely and going for a much cleaner look recently.

A possible influence for the dreadlocks could be because it is often a go-to hairstyle for many modern rappers like Lil Wayne, J.Cole and Wiz Khalifa. The dreadlocks style also has a bit of religious history, with some believing that keeping it helps one stay in a ‘pure state of nature as God intended’ by never cutting one’s hair.

There is no explanation as to why so many of the current Chelsea squad members have this similar hairstyle that makes them look like they are members of a notorious gang.

But Pochettino doesn’t have a problem with it and neither will anyone else, as long as the players start performing at a higher level and help the Blues win something to celebrate at the end of the season.