One of Derby County’s current players was once a striker and now he’s thriving as a defensive weapon in Paul Warne’s side.
Paul Warne has built a strong defence at Derby, with the Rams keeping four clean sheets in five home matches while conceding just 1.1 goals per game.
The Rams have continued flourishing as a defensive unit in the Championship, largely thanks to the brilliant partnership of Eiran Cashin and Curtis Nelson, but also the key signings that were made.
For example, Ebou Adams arriving at Pride Park permanently has offered some much-needed protection in front of the defence while the performances of goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom have been magnificent.
However, if things had planned out differently in the early stages of his career, the Swedish shot-stopper may have been scoring goals rather than keeping them out.
Jacob Widell Zetterstrom used to be a striker
When starting as a footballer at grassroots level, it’s all about finding the best position. Some suddenly take to one and stay there for the rest of their career while others start in one and find their calling elsewhere.
For Derby’s number one Zetterstrom – who they signed from Swedish Djurgardens IF in the summer – he started out as a striker.
That was until the first-team goalkeeper from his team quit and the coach had seen some promising signs from Zetterstrom in training, prompting him to use the Swedish star between the sticks at a tournament.
Since that day, the 26-year-old has ‘never looked back’, as he explains to the Rams Daily podcast: “I was actually a striker until I was 11 or something. Then the first team goalie, he quit and so I was focused on ice hockey.
“The team needed a new goalie and my coach had just seen me play around before training and all that, like, doing these games. And he just saw that I, well, maybe had some talent to be a goalie. And so he put me in a goal for a small cup or a tournament or something.
“And I loved it. And ever since, I haven’t looked back, except for once, was the World Cup 2010. I just saw all these strikers doing crazy goals.”
Zetterstrom has been a revelation for Derby
In another universe, perhaps Zetterstrom would have remained as a striker and the Rams would have been denied the chance to see him performing miracles between the posts.
That is exactly what he has done during his short spell at Pride Park, keeping three clean sheets in eight games while commanding his presence in the box.
| Jacob Widell Zetterstrom Championship stats | Figure |
| Matches | 8 |
| Goals conceded per game | 1.1 |
| Saves per game | 3.3 (72%) |
| Balls recovered per game | 8 |
| Accurate passes per game | 14.9 |
| Goals prevented | 1.66 |
Zetterstrom is proving to be Derby’s bargain of the summer, comfortably replacing Joe Wildsmith and cementing his place as a key cog in Warne’s hopes of Championship survival.