Glenn HYSEN

Back in the days when your typical defenders idea of passing his way out of trouble meant lumping the ball as far up field as possible, Glenn Hysen was a much sought after commodity. The Swedish defender had a reputation of being everything his British counterparts apparently weren't: stylish and comfortable on the ball. A couple of impeccable displays for Sweden against England caught the attention of Alex Ferguson and the Manchester United boss wanted to build his defence around the Swede. But Liverpool's Kenny Dalglish was also interested in adding Hysen to his backline and eventually managed to win the resulting tug-of-war for the central defender, the Reds paying Italian club Fiorentina £650, 000 for the 29 year old Swede. Hysen quickly settled in, forming an excellent defensive partnership with Alan Hansen. Not only did he know what to do with the ball, but he also proved to be more than capable of handling the physical requirements of the English game.

In his first season at Anfield he was virtually ever present - playing 35 out of the 38 League games - as Liverpool won the title in record fashion. Hysen even managed to get one goal in a 9-0 trouncing of Crystal Palace. In fact, he took a liking to scoring against Palace with his only other league goal for Liverpool also being against the Londoners two years later. From then on, however, it was downhill all the way. With Hansen increasingly missing due to injury, Hysen started to suffer. Opposing teams got wise to his alarming lack of pace as the cracks started to show in the previously watertight defence. When Graeme Souness took over as manager, Hysen soon found himself out of favour and was eventually released in January 1992 having made just five league appearances during his final season with the Reds. (Paul Grech)