From Opta

ROBERT ULLATHORNE has joined Sheffield United on a free transfer after failing to secure a contract with North-Eastern giants, Newcastle United. The left-sided defender had been at The Magpies on a non-contract basis, after regaining his fitness following a horror couple of years that saw him break his leg twice. Ullathorne, the former Leicester City and Norwich City star was out of football for over 18 months but has slowly returned to full health. However, with former Crystal Palace defender Sun Jihai having impressed on a short trial at St James', it would appear that Bobby Robson has turned his attention to the Chinese star. Robson may have a fight on his hands as Palace want to re-unite Jihai with teammate Fan Zhiyi, the London club having to release the player after they were unable to pay the £600,000 fee. Having been part of the exciting Canaries team of the early 90's, Ullathorne moved to Osasuna in 1996-97 at the same time as Robson was in the process of winning the Cup Winners Cup with Barcelona. After returning from Spain, Ullathorne played for Leicester City where he suffered his first broken leg on his debut against Wimbledon, he recovered from this only to repeat the injury at Chelsea in a sickening collision with his own keeper, Kasey Keller. Ullathorne attempted to resurrect his career by returning to Spain where he played for Real Zaragoza and Tenerife without securing a long-term deal

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

Answers

This Sun Jihai isn't very good, why are we going to buy him?

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000

Cos our pockets aren't very deep??

-- Anonymous, December 03, 2000