Jermaine Defoe has been discussing former Portsmouth teammate Hermann Hreidarsson and how his public persona differed from his true personality.
Standing at 6″3, the Icelandic defender was definitely someone who struck fear into attackers who were coming up against him.
Hreidarsson signed for Pompey in 2007 from Charlton Athletic on a free transfer.
He went onto make 102 appearances over a five year spell where he saw it all.
The Iceland international was part of the famous FA Cup winning side, as well as the team that was relegated from the Premier League.
His teammate, Defoe, joined a year later, in 2008 and went on to play just a single season at Fratton park before moving back to Tottenham Hotspur.
Signing for £7.5 million, he went onto have a productive season scoring 14 goals before returning to White Heart Lane.
What has Jermaine Defoe said about Hermann Hreidarsson?
While talking on his new podcast, Defoe and Deeney Footballs First Podcast, the Englishman discussed his teammate.
When asked about the Icelandic defender, he said: “Hermann Hreiðarsson has got this reputation, hard man. He was one of the craziest I’ve played with.
“He’s one of those ones, you come in the morning and when you walk past him you tense up thinking he’s going to grab your neck. Such an aggressive guy.”
This persona and aura followed him around with him being an opponent that not many strikers wanted to see.
When playing against him, Defoe thought he was trouble: “I was playing against Charlton at White Hart Lane, a corner has come in, he’s marking me and I’m trying to get away from him.
“He’s turned around and gone, bang, in my stomach. I looked at him and I thought… why?”
This made Defoe think he was a madman and a s***house of a player but this wasn’t always the case.
Upon moving to Pompey, he discovered something: “I signed for Portsmouth, went into the changing room up to Hermann and he grabbed and cuddled me. He’s one of the nicest guys I met in football.”
Despite the hardman look from the outside, he is clearly a great guy and always did his upmost for Portsmouth in tough times.