There I was, watching the latest sports news the other day, and something stood out to me. Lionel Messi was on screen, playing one of his pre-season games with Barcelona. I couldn’t quite figure out what was different about him at first, but I knew something wasn’t right.

It wasn’t his soccer skills, that’s for sure!

Then, it hit me. Arguably the world’s greatest soccer player had dyed his entire hair platinum blonde! And, I actually like his look! During the Copa America, he made the interesting choice of engaging in some proper beard care. The beard has remained ever since, and now, he’s gone the extra mile with his interesting choice of hair style.

Yet, this is the first time this summer that I’ve noticed this bizarre trend. Numerous soccer stars seem to be going blonde all at once. Is this some kind of weird in-joke between them all, or is it the new trend? Let me give a few examples I’ve noticed over the summer.

  • Arsenal’s Aaron Ramsey was the first person I noticed to have made the drastic change. The Wales superstar headed into Euro 2016 with a fresh new look, and it seemed to do him the world of good. Wales ended up in the semi-final of the tournament, far further than they had expected to finish.
  • Manchester United defender Phil Jones also did the same thing recently, albeit not quite to the same extent.
  • A quick Google search shows that Samir Nasri of France also did the same thing not so long ago. What’s going on here?!
  • Wait, we’re not done. Real Madrid star James Rodriguez also did the same thing earlier this year. France superstar Paul Pogba got a blonde design shaved into his head. And, making the biggest statement of them all was Belgium’s Marouane Fellaini. He dyed his massive afro blonde ahead of Euro 2016 this year, too.

Can someone tell me what’s going on? Is this is the new soccer trend? Will it be long before every top player on the planet is sporting this style? Maybe it should be the new thing? Hockey has playoff beards, for example. We love them! Why not go into a major tournament by dying your hair platinum blonde? Let’s get the supporters in on it! We’ll all adopt this bizarre phenomenon.

But seriously, it IS a little strange. If you’re not a fan of the new ‘do’, you might not be pleased to hear that it’s already catching on the US. Mitchell Page of the Indiana Hoosiers is a prime example. He’s decided to go fully blonde, and guess who was part of his inspiration? Lionel Messi.

“I saw someone had it on TV, and I thought it was hilarious — “I thought to myself, ‘I definitely want that. And then Messi, the soccer player, did it. And that was a sign. I had to have it.’’

It looks like it really is taking over! When the whole world is sporting platinum blonde locks, remember that you heard it here first.