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DOB: 19/03/1973
Height: 6ft 4in
During the 1999-2000 season, Magnus Hedman again showed what a bargain he has been since Gordon Strachan signed him for £500,000. The Swedish international kept nine clean sheets – the fifth-highest total in the division – adding assurance to Coventry’s normally overworked defence.
Hedman is renowned for his shot-stopping skills, and he enhanced this reputation saving an impressive 74% of the efforts fired at his goal. And he was certainly missed when injury forced him out of the team, Strachan’s side falling to heavy defeats in each of the three Premiership games where Hedman was absent.
But the former AIK Solna ‘keeper’s command of the penalty area was brought into question on several occasions.
He claimed a below-average 91% of crosses that he went for and had his aerial vulnerability exposed at West Ham, when the Swede’s errors resulted in a 5-0 defeat. If he can improve this aspect of his game, however, Hedman has the talent to be a fixture at Highfield Road for many years to come.