January 21 2002

Crystal Palace

Sheffield United have rejected Palace's offer of £1m for highly-rated midfielder Michael Brown.

Blades manager Neil Warnock said: "We don't want him to go, it's as simple as that.

"In any case the bid is much less than we value him at, which is currently around £3m, and if he was to go eventually it really ought to be to a Premiership club.

"We have kept Michael informed and he is delighted at the way things are going for him here.

"He signed a new contract not long ago, knows we want him to stay and is enjoying every minute of playing with Michael Tonge."

Brown, who started his career as a trainee at Manchester City, has been at United for two years.