François Grenet
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 8 March 1975 | ||
| Place of birth | Bordeaux, France | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | Right-back, midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1989 | Aviron Bayonnais | ||
| 1989–1993 | Bordeaux | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1993–2001 | Bordeaux | 177 | (4) |
| 2001–2003 | Derby County | 18 | (0) |
| 2002–2003 | → Rennes (loan) | 10 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | Rennes | 8 | (0) |
| 2004–2006 | Nice | 24 | (1) |
| 2006 | Bordeaux II | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 237 | (5) | |
| National team | |||
| 1998 | Basque Country | 1 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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François Grenet (born 8 March 1975 in Bordeaux) is a retired French footballer who played mostly as a right-back and also as a midfielder.
Grenet started his youth career as a forward at Aviron Bayonnais, moving to his hometown club FC Girondins de Bordeaux in 1989. He made his senior debut in a Ligue 1 match on 2 June 1993 against Lyon. His first Ligue 1 goal came against the same opponent in 1995 and later became a first team regular in 1995–96 season, when Bordeaux lost the 1996 UEFA Cup Final against Bayern Munich. He was also a runner-up twice at the Coupe de la Ligue in 1997 and 1998, losing the final matches against Strasbourg and Paris Saint-Germain, respectively. Both matches were decided in the penalty shootout, with Grenet entering in extra time and losing his penalty in 1997 and starting, but being replaced still in the 1st half in 1998.
He won his first and only title of his career in 1999, after Bordeaux won the 1998–99 French Division 1. During 2001 summer, he announced his intention of leaving the club and was targeted by Middlesbrough and Sunderland with a price tag of £3.5m.
After becoming an eventual substitute during the start of the 2001–02 season, Grenet was sold for Derby County, then at the bottom of the table, for a reported fee of £3 million, believing that a move to the Premier League could make him break into the France national football team and also being backed by manager Colin Todd who stated at the time that "the only reason he is not part of the senior French squad is the fact [sic] that Lilian Thuram is in that position". That fee made him the most expensive Derby County footballer at the time amongst other players, but later it was disclosed as £2.2 million by Derby County's chief executive Keith Loring.
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