Kristofer Haestad - Player Profile

Kristofer was signed on 29th December 2006 on a six month loan deal from Norwegian Premier League outfit, Start. The deal, like Andreas Granqvists’s the previous day was expected to be made permanent at the end of the season. His first game for Latics was in a 1-2 defeat against Portsmouth at Fratton Park on 6th January 2007 in a FA Cup, third round game. He came on as a substitute fro Denny Landzaat in the 72nd minute.

He then made his Latics Premiership debut on 13th January 2007 against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, where an injury ravaged Latics side was beaten 4-0. He was only to play one more Premiership game as a used substitute before returning to Norway having failed to settle in England. Ironically, he represented his country during his time at the JJB Stadium three times, despite not being deemed good enough for Premiership football with Latics. On 2nd January 2008 he signed a four-year deal with Valerenga IF

A bit of Kristofer Haestad trivia – did you know that in June 2006 he recorded a pop song entitled ‘This Is For Real’ with four fellow footballers, including Blackburn Rovers star Morten Gamst Pedersen, calling themselves ‘The Players’?.