10 Sunderland Players Who Really Weren't Worth The Hassle

8. David Bellion

If David Bellion had known how much of a failure he was going to be at Old Trafford, maybe he wouldn't have pursued a transfer to the Red Devils with such vigour. An up-and-coming starlet at Sunderland, he was one ray of light in a pitiful Premier League side that amassed a then-record low points total of 19 points - a record which would be beaten by the club's next pathetic effort two years later. However, during the relegation season of 02/03, the youngster did spend a lot of time in France, visiting his sick grandmother, claiming that he was 'mentally unfit' to line out for the Black Cats. Perhaps Stephen Ireland and the Frenchman read from the same script, as it was heavily mooted that the sick grandmother was merely a mask for something larger at play. At the time, Manchester United had been accused of tapping up the player, which eventually proved to be true, and soured the relationships between the clubs.

''Manchester United have tried again to get David on the cheap. We have been trodden on and that's all I need at this time. Bellion came to us as an amateur 18 months ago and the agent involved was paid £200,000 and that's not bad. We made him a three-and-half year offer last October and I feel we are being used.'' - Sunderland chairman Bob Murray, February 2003.

As for Nana Bellion, it was probably just a case of the sniffles.