Collymore threatens to quit

Britain's costliest footballer Stan Collymore has threatened to leave the game, saying his pounds 8.5m summer move to Liverpool has proved a nightmare.

Collymore, who left Nottingham Forest for a British record transfer fee in the summer, has made little impact at Anfield where he cannot hold down a regular first team place. He has admitted finding it difficult adjusting to Liverpool's passing style, and is quoted in an interview in Four-Four-Two magazine as saying he is prepared to leave the game.

"If I felt now that I'd be stuck at Liverpool for the next two years and just be average, and just go through the motions, I would give up football tomorrow without a doubt," he says.

Collymore criticises Liverpool's manager, Roy Evans, for not discussing, during contract talks, the role he planned for the player. "I don't know of any other industry that would lay out pounds 8.5m on anything and then not have some plan from day one on how they're going to use it," he adds.

Collymore does not make any secret in the interview of his disappointment at the way his move to Liverpool has gone. "My ideas on big clubs have changed. You think you're going to something superior in every way," he says. "So many clubs - I've got to be careful here - are a shambles. You go there thinking they're going to be centres of excellence and they are far from it. I thought the training would be as good, if not better, than at Forest."

n Juninho, back from helping Brazil to beat Argentina 1-0, lit up a niggling match against Sampdoria to mark the official opening of Middlesbrough's Riverside Stadium. He set up Bryan Robson with the day's best chance, but his manager missed and the game ended goalless.