Pegguy Arphexad’s Liverpool career brought him as medal medals (six, all as an unused substitute) as first team appearances but he insists he moved to Anfield with the intention of becoming the Reds number one.
Born in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, the goalkeeper first arrived in the Premier League in 1997 when he joined Leicester City.
An impressive display for the Foxes in a 2-0 win at Anfield in May 2000 helped to deny Liverpool a place in the following season’s Champions League but also ensured he caught the eye of Gerard Houllier who snapped him up on a Bosman-style free transfer that summer.
Although Arphexad displaced Brad Friedel – who joined Blackburn Rovers the following November – as the main competition to Sander Westerveld at the club, he was unable to displace the Dutchman as number one that term.
The following year, Houllier brought in two keepers in the space of 24 hours in the shape of Jerzy Dudek and Chris Kirkland which saw Westerveld sold to Real Sociedad but Arphexad stuck around for another couple of seasons to warm the bench in the 2003 League Cup final win over Manchester United, just as he had done in the trio of cup final successes of 2001 plus the UEFA Super Cup and Charity Shield that year.
Arphexad told Planet Football : “Maybe I made the wrong decision and should have gone to a smaller team to be the first goalkeeper before going to a strong team like Liverpool. I don’t know.
“But I thought at that time that I had the ability to be first (choice) goalkeeper at Liverpool.
“Maybe I wasn’t good enough to be the first goalkeeper at Liverpool.
“It was strange for me because every time I played for Liverpool I did well.
“The manager told me you need to be an international to be playing for Liverpool. I just replied, ‘If I play for Liverpool, I will be an international.’ You need to play for that to happen.”
Now 47, Arphexad acknowledges that he didn’t make the move to Merseyside with complete naivety as he knew that first team opportunities would be difficult to come by but at the time he backed his ability to work his way into the side.
He said: “They were looking for a second keeper to challenge Sander Westerveld because Brad Friedel was coming to the end of his contract.
“When Liverpool come, you don’t think twice.
“Liverpool are a very strong team and I thought I had the ability to be the first keeper there.
“When I signed, I knew I was going to be second keeper, but I thought I could be the first one if I worked hard.”
