Football: Platt draws the crowds

DAVID PLATT and his new team-mate, Ruud Gullit, helped to draw a 12,000 crowd to Sampdoria's opening pre-season training session yesterday. The Italian Serie A club's new overseas players were the centre of attention as traffic jams of over seven miles built up between Genoa and the training ground at Bogliasco.

The huge turn-out delayed the arrival of Gullit, the Dutch international who spent the last six seasons at Milan. 'I am delighted to be here and I am sure we are going to achieve great things with this team,' he said.

Platt, England's captain who moved from Juventus for pounds 5.2m this month, added: 'This was a spectacular welcome and I just want to thank everyone. I am not an out-and-out attacker but I think I will still score a lot of goals. I must first get used to the atmosphere.'

Romario, the Brazilian international striker who scored 96 goals in 102 games for PSV Eindhoven, has completed his pounds 2.75m move to Barcelona.