Dundee United boss Peter Houston has revealed that a glowing reference from Scotland midfielder Charlie Adam helped convince him to offer Gregory Vignal the opportunity to join the Tangerines.
The vastly-experienced Frenchman, who can count Rangers, Liverpool, Lens, Southampton, Portsmouth and Kaiserslautern among his former clubs, has signed a short-term contract at Tannadice until January, with the club having the option of extending the deal.
The 31-year-old defender has been a free agent since leaving Greek club Atromitos two years ago and, while he has been keeping himself fit, Friday night’s SPL match against Ross County will come too soon for him to make his debut for United.
However, Houston is sure that once Vignal is fully up to speed, he will be a valuable addition to his largely young squad at Tannadice.
The manager said: ”We have agreed a short-term deal with Gregory until he improves his fitness. I won’t be looking for him to step up to the mark straight away because he’s not played for a while.
”But he’s an experienced player and I have had very positive feedback about him. I spoke to Charlie Adam who played with Gregory with Rangers about him last week and he was very complimentary about him.
“He has great experience and played at a very high level with Liverpool, Kaiserslautern, Portsmouth and Rangers. I also feel we are a very young team so someone like that will be a valuable addition.
”He’s only 31 so still has plenty to offer. It’s a short-term deal but if he does well, then we’ll extend it.
”He is just desperate to play again. He has even has been texting me every night while I was away with Scotland letting me know exactly what he has been doing that day training wise, which speaks volumes about his attitude.
”He likes Scotland and has looked at places he would like to stay. So hopefully it will all work out.”
Johnny Russell and Stuart Armstrong reported back to training on Wednesday with no injury problems after being on Scotland Under-21 duty.
However, Houston revealed that two other unnamed players are giving him cause for concern ahead of Friday’s game.
He said: ”Johnny and Stuart have come back from the Under-21s OK, which is always good. But we have one or two other injuries and have a couple struggling for Friday night but I don’t want to say who they are.”
Photo by Maurice McDonald/PA Archive