English soccer club Sheffield United made a big step to break into the Chinese market by signing Monday a contract to be the biggest shareholder of Chengdu Wuniu.

The English second division side was the first foreign investor to take over a Chinese soccer club since Spain's Real Madrid made a reportedly 20-million-euro purchase of a 28 percent stake in China's top flight club Beijing Guo'an last month.

Sheffield United manager and vice president Terry Robinson did not reveal the cost for taking over Wuniu, a club struggling in the country's second division.

"Wuniu is eager to sell their stakes, so Sheffield could take over at low price," a source told Xinhua. "It is a real bargain for Sheffield."

Robinson said that as a British club with over a hundred years' history, Sheffield United will bring a lot to Wuniu but won't waste money by making easy decisions.

"We are strategically practical. What we value is not the rank of the soccer team at present, but the market potential here," said Robinson.

(Xinhua News Agency December 13, 2005)