West Brom links to defender tasked with stopping Kane

For Trond Heggem, watching his son prepare to face England in a World Cup quarter-final is still hard to believe.

Norway defender Torbjorn Heggem cost West Bromwich Albion just under £600,000 when they signed him from Swedish club IF Brommapojkarna in July 2024.

Baggies fans only got one season with the centre back before a £10m move to Italian club Bologna - but his family believe that year changed his life forever.

Trond said: "He had a tremendous time, unbelievable time at West Bromwich, and if it hadn't been for them being able to see him in Sweden and picking him up, he wouldn't be in the World Cup right now, I'm quite sure."

Speaking to BBC Radio WM before the final, Trond said: "Two years ago, he was playing in Sweden, and I think no-one knew who he was.

"Now he's a part of a team representing the country at a great summer football party, and it's totally incredible."

Trond said his son had such a positive experience playing at The Hawthorns that the family consider themselves to be "Baggies forever".

"He and we all are very grateful for the time [he spent at West Brom]," Trond said. "For the way they treated him, and especially the way the fans treated him when he was there, and still are."

He added that his son "still gets a lot of nice comments from the fans of West Brom".

England's upcoming opponents reportedly shipped 2,000 pounds of Norwegian food staples for the players to eat, but it was a different kind of feast that Torbjorn Heggem enjoyed during his time in the Black Country.

Trond said the family had taken the opportunity to taste regional delicacy orange chips ahead of the move to northern Italy.

"We all tried orange chips because we had to - we couldn't leave there without trying [them]," Trond added.

"Most of his food he got from the club. They had a very great chef, a great kitchen. So I'm afraid he didn't try orange trips a lot, but I know that he tried them."

And Trond's prediction for Saturday? A win for Norway - with his son Torbjorn tasked with the difficult role of stopping the in-form England striker Harry Kane.

"I guess the game on Saturday will be a thrill, like the game against Brazil was," he said.

"England is, of course, a very important football country for us in Norway. But I think Norway is able to win.

"I think we will win 2-1, and Torbjorn's role will be to prevent Harry Kane from scoring more than the one goal."

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