Versatile West Brom star Torbjorn Heggem: I've been a better left-back than I thought!

The Norwegian defender checked into the Black Country as an unknown over the summer from the Swedish top flight and has flourished so far in blue and white stripes.

It does feel like a glimpse back into recent history led by Dan Ashworth at The Hawthorns.

Heggem, 25, surprised most - maybe even Albion coaching staff and certainly himself - by how he settled at left-back this season. A 6ft 6ins defender is most expected to dominate the middle of a backline, but there are more strings to the bow of the newly-capped Norway international. The signs of his left-back capabilities were there as he crossed for Josh Maja on the opening day at QPR. He carries more than a bit of likeness to Dan Burn, the versatile Newcastle defender of a similar build. 

But most of Heggem's football in a back four for Brommapojkarna (IF BP) in Sweden was at left-back. When he played as a central defender it was more often than not on the left of a back three and, the £525,000 signing revealed, that unique role helped polish his attacking qualities.

"I had a really free role in my last team in Sweden," Heggem told the Express & Star. "I played a really offensive left centre-back, it was really offensive for a defender. I think that improved my game.

"At an earlier age I was a midfielder but when I was 16 or 17 I started to be more a defender. I've always played a little bit of left-back and a little bit of centre-back."

No Albion player has made more tackles (26) than Heggem from so far this season. He is not afraid to gallop down the left and despite some attacking qualities, the left-footer is best described as an uncompromising defender.

Heggem, who now appears set for a run in the centre due to injuries, added:  "I think my body type and physique suits a centre-back even better. I think I've improved with one-v-one defending and defending on the sides.

"With the help of the team and the staff here I've been a better left-back than I thought!

"We have Kristoffer Ajer in the national team, he's playing left-back and right-back, he's really experienced and even taller than me! My physique is typically centre-back but I enjoy left-back as well, I think it suits me well."

Heggem's maiden call by Norway boss Stale Solbakken, the former Wolves chief, was his first international involvement of any kind. The defender, from Trondheim in the Norwegian Fjords, was overlooked in his homeland and Sweden.

He enjoyed a brief taster of 10 minutes to win a first cap and recalled training and sharing a dressing room with superstar striker Erling Haaland, among others including Norway stars from Dortmund and Atletico Madrid.

And defending Haaland in training? He smiled: "The training is not too hard! It's a little bit relaxed, it's not 100 per cent duels but you see the physique and quality of the players.

"The way he is as a person and character, he is showing his experience with how he is and the quality he has. He is not the person that talks a lot. You have players being even more verbal but that is a little bit like the way you are as a human."