Grégory Vignal was 19 when Gérard Houllier brought him to Anfield from Montpellier in September 2000, a left-back who had just won the European Under-18 Championship with France.
He made only 20 appearances for Liverpool and never scored. But he was in the squad that won the cup treble, he had a hand in one of the great derby goals, and for a few weeks in the autumn of 2001 the left-back shirt was his.
Then came a League Cup night against Grimsby Town, and nothing was quite the same again.
Montpellier and a summer in Germany
Vignal was born in Montpellier on 19 July 1981 and came through the youth system at his hometown club.
In July 2000 he started at left-back as France beat Ukraine 1-0 in the final of the European Under-18 Championship in Nuremberg.
It was quite a side. In midfield was Bruno Cheyrou, the very first Once a Red, and up front was a certain Djibril Cissé.
Two months later he was a Liverpool player, signed for a reported £500,000.
A first taste
His debut came on 6 January 2001, when he came off the bench for Vladimír Šmicer in a 3-0 FA Cup third-round win over Rotherham United at Anfield.
A month later he made his first Premier League start, at home to West Ham United. Šmicer and a Robbie Fowler double gave Liverpool a 3-0 win.
He played seven times in that first season, and two of those games are still talked about.
The run that set up Macca
The first was the derby at Goodison Park on 16 April 2001.
It was a wild afternoon. Liverpool were down to ten men after Igor Bišćan was sent off, and David Unsworth’s late penalty had made it 2-2. Vignal had come on for Fowler to help see the game out.
Deep into stoppage time, he carried the ball forward on the counter-attack and was brought down by Niclas Alexandersson, more than 40 yards from goal.
Gary McAllister stood over the free-kick and went straight for goal. Liverpool won 3-2, and it is still one of the most famous goals ever scored in a derby.
Third place and three medals
The second was the final day of the season at The Valley. Liverpool needed to beat Charlton Athletic to finish third and reach the Champions League.
Vignal started at left-back. After a nervy first half, Fowler scored twice and Danny Murphy and Michael Owen added the others in a 4-0 win.
By then he had already been on the bench for the FA Cup final win over Arsenal in Cardiff and the UEFA Cup final against Alavés in Dortmund. He was a substitute again when Liverpool beat Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super Cup that August.
He didn’t get on in any of the three, but he came away with three winner’s medals at the age of 20.
The shirt was his
At the start of the 2001-02 season, Markus Babbel was taken ill with Guillain-Barré syndrome. Jamie Carragher moved across to the right, and Vignal came in on the left.
He started in Liverpool’s first three Champions League group games, against Boavista, Borussia Dortmund and Dynamo Kiev, and in a 3-1 derby win at Goodison Park.
In front of him was John Arne Riise, newly arrived from Monaco. The pair linked up well from the start, and Liverpool’s left side suddenly looked a real strength.
Grimsby
On 9 October 2001 Liverpool played Grimsby Town in the League Cup third round at Anfield.
After 21 minutes Vignal had to go off, replaced by Frode Kippe. He had suffered a broken bone, and Liverpool went out 2-1 after extra time.
The injury kept him out for the rest of the season. Riise moved back to left-back, went on to establish himself in the position, and Vignal never really got back in.
Loans, and a title in Glasgow
He played four more times in 2002-03, the last of them on New Year’s Day 2003 at Newcastle United, before joining Bastia on loan.
The following season he went on loan to Rennes and then Espanyol, and in 2004-05 he headed to Rangers under Alex McLeish.
It was a season to remember. Rangers won the Scottish Premier League and the League Cup, and Vignal scored in a 2-0 win at Celtic Park.
That summer, with a year left on his Liverpool contract, he was released and joined Portsmouth on a free transfer. He never played a competitive game for Rafael Benítez.
A well-travelled career
In his one season at Fratton Park he made 14 league appearances, three more than he had managed in the whole of his Liverpool career.
After that came Lens, where he won Ligue 2 in 2009, loan spells at Kaiserslautern and Southampton, a season with Birmingham City under McLeish again, and spells with Atromitos in Greece, Dundee United and Béziers.
The coach
Vignal has been coaching ever since. He has worked in the academies at Montpellier, Marseille and Rangers, managed Rangers Women and, after completing his UEFA Pro Licence, took charge of Versailles in France.
Most recently he had a spell as head coach of Blackburn Rovers’ Under-21s.
Once a Red
Grégory Vignal’s Liverpool career amounted to 20 games, a handful of good weeks and one cruel injury.
But he was there for the treble, he won the free-kick that Gary McAllister made immortal, and he went home with three winner’s medals before his 21st birthday.
He has never had a bad word to say about the place either. He has spoken warmly of his time at Liverpool, called it a dream come true, and credited Houllier with changing his life.
Once a Red, always a Red.
