Hedman seizes turn in Celtic limelight

The constant whir of cameras is not a distraction for Magnus Hedman, which is why he happily spent ages at Parkhead on Thursday giving photographers a smile that could match any flashbulb for brightness.

Henrik Larsson, though, is a different matter. Celtic's icon eschews attention. In fact, you could not pay him to do a photo shoot as his boot manufacturers, Umbro, discovered this week when Larsson turned down a new deal worth £100,000 because he was fed up doing publicity photographs.

The two Swedish players do have one thing in common: each has a wife named Magdalena. From today, they share another obsession. The pursuit of Celtic's third consecutive Scottish Premier League title.

Hedman will have to make do with a seat, along with 60,000 others, as Celtic launch their championship defence at home to Dunfermline. Despite costing £2m, the former Coventry City goalkeeper will be on the bench as Robert Douglas retains his place. Larsson will be where he always is – centre stage.

In the summer of 1997, Larsson was going through his own photo shoot after joining Celtic from Feyenoord. The 157 goals which have followed make his £650,000 fee look like the steal of the century. The arrival of his compatriot five years on underlines how much Parkhead has changed in that time.

Celtic have forked out three times what they paid for Larsson and given Hedman a four-year contract reputed to be worth £3.5m simply to be an understudy. But Martin O'Neill would not see the issue in such simplistic terms. The manager's sights are on Europe as much as Scotland and he knows that Celtic need two international goalkeepers if they want to improve on last term's laudable Champions' League run.

"The arrival of Magnus is good news for Robert Douglas," O'Neill said. "You need a competitive edge. I remember George Graham bringing David Seaman to Arsenal even though he had a good keeper in John Lukic. Magnus showed in the World Cup what good ability he has." Others noted that too. Hedman was poised to join Spain's Espanyol until a problem arose with the fee and Celtic stepped in. "I went to Barcelona and negotiated terms," Hedman said, "but I am happy now because if someone had asked me at the time if I wanted to join Celtic, I would have said 'yes' straight away.

"This is such a big club and I have been following what has happened here for the last five years because of Henrik, as well as Johan Mjallby whom I played with at AIK Stockholm. They had positive things to say about Celtic every time I spoke to them. It was frustrating at Coventry recently and it's good to be back on the big stage."

There is a shortage of glamour in the Nationwide League, and Hedman – unlike Larsson – has never been shy about being in the limelight. His marriage to the pop singer Magdalena Graaf made them Sweden's answer to Posh and Becks. Hedman admits: "The media coverage of Magdalena and myself has been quite big since we got married."

Larsson, in contrast, confines his press appearances to Celtic's club magazine. In the only pre-season interview given by the striker, he told Celtic View that he had no regrets about another decision in the pursuit of a more tranquil life, bowing out of international football after 72 caps following the World Cup finals.

"I've done the right thing," he said. "I could have played for another four years but I don't want to end up playing for the Sweden team and people asking when am I going to stop because I am not delivering any more." Larsson, despite the sceptics in England, proved in Japan that he always delivers.

"Three goals in four World Cup games is a decent achievement. I know a lot of people around the world didn't think I could score at the highest level because I play in the SPL," the man who won the European Golden Boot two seasons ago said.

"That tells you something about the Scottish League. I always take a little satisfaction from that, though I don't gloat."

Nor will anyone be able to wrest the title from Celtic, if their prolific striker maintains his form. "Whether or not, Rangers are stronger, we'll have to wait and see but I am only really concerned about what Celtic do," Larsson said. "I hope the highlight of my time here has still to come."