Magdalena Eriksson

Only three players started more matches than Magdalena Eriksson in our Double-winning campaign in 2017/18, with the Swedish left-sided defender becoming an integral part of our back three in her first campaign with Chelsea Women.

Eriksson arrived at Kingsmeadow following a four-year spell at Linkopings in her home country, where she captained the club to the league title in 2016 despite only being in her early twenties. She made her senior Sweden debut against France in 2014 and was part of the squad which reached the quarter-finals of the 2017 European Championship.

Immediately looking at home from the moment she joined our growing Swedish contingent, Eriksson marked her Women’s Super League 1 debut with a powerful headed goal against Bristol City in a thumping 6-0 victory.

A regular spot in our back three was maintained throughout the campaign, with her calmness and football intelligence both in and out of possession clear for all to see, and the season had reached the first week of December by the time she relinquished her spot in the starting line-up for a run of Continental Tyres Cup group stage matches.

Her set-pieces in the attacking third, often whipped in dangerously with her left foot, proved to be a regular source of goals throughout 2017/18, but her most telling contribution in the attacking third came when we faced Everton in mid-April, when an early goal settled a tense game which proved vital in bringing the WSL1 title back to the club.

Eriksson also started the FA Cup final and both legs of our Champions League semi-final against Wolfsburg, which helped take her tally to 31 appearances at the end of a successful first season in England, with Emma Hayes highlighting her as one of the unsung heroes of the squad.