It was announced last week that Latics’ Swedish international left back Erik Edman had returned to Helsingborgs, the club where he made his name, having struggled to regain a place in Martinez’s first team after a spate of injuries.
It’ll be surprising to some that Edman made only nine league appearances in his two-year spell at Wigan, and that he was once a regular fixture in the Swedish international team. However, a short time after he joined the Latics, he sustained a serious knee injury that would keep him out for the remainder of the 2007/2008 season and also Euro 2008.
Unfortunately for Edman, he’ll be remembered by many as a member of the Wigan side that lost 9-1 to Tottenham in November. Since then, he has been on the fringes of the first team, on standby as replacement for Maynor Figueroa, and the club have allowed him to move to Helsingborgs on a free transfer to find first team football.
I prefer to remember Erik as the man who, up until his injury, so ably filled the void left by Leighton Baines. Though his appearances were limited, he impressed under Steve Bruce and were it not for an unfortunate challenge, I reckon we’d have had a long term stalwart that would have gone down in Latics lore as one of the best defenders we’ve had at the club.
Alas it was not to be, and with Figueroa now the man in possession of the left back berth, we bid Erik a fond farewell and wish him every success in the future. I really hope he goes on to bigger things, and the Tottenham game does not ruin his career because we’ve seen plenty of talent there, a sentiment echoed by the Swedish FA, who’ve called on him for international duty on 57 occasions.
