Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier thought he had completed a major coup when he signed a 21-year-old El Hadji Diouf from Lens in the summer of 2002.
The Senegal international, purchased for £10million, made the Frenchman's swoop look all the more impressive in South Korea and Japan.
Houllier's pains after seeing his nation's shock early exit from the World Cup would have been soothed by the knowledge that he was welcoming a star of the Teranga Lions squad that shocked the globe.
Under the Frenchman, the Reds had begun to believe they could end their long wait for a top-flight title.