Alex McLeish strengthens his defence.

Birmingham City’s hunt for a left back came to an end this afternoon, with the acquisition of trialist Gregory Vignal, formerly of Liverpool, Rangers, Portsmouth and Southampton. The 28 year old Frenchman joins the club on a 1 year contract from French side, Lens, and becomes Birmingham’s 9th signing of the summer behind Stephen Carr, Lee Bowyer, Roger Johnson, Scott Dann, Christian Benitez, Giovanny Espinoza and Barry Ferguson.

For weeks now, Alex McLeish has been looking at finding a left back to slot into the Birmingham side, to replace the injured David Murphy, and following Arsene Wenger’s refusal to let Armand Traore join the Midlander’s on loan, well, for the time being at least, McLeish has swooped for the former Liverpool full back. Will he be a hit for Birmingham, or a flop? Time will tell, but he goes straight into their squad for their opening weekend clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford.

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