Argentine teen striker swooped up

Chelsea have beaten out Manchester United and Liverpool and completed the signing of Argentine teenager Franco Di Santo on a four and a half year contract from from Chilean side Audax Italiano.

Di Santo is an Argentina Under 20 international and joins Chelsea for a 3m pound fee. Standing 6ft 4in the forward tends to tower over South American opposition, even at his height the inevitable comparisons to Maradona persist.

Di Santo holds an Italian passport and takes the spending by Avram Grant to 27m pounds during the transfer window after signing Nicolas Anelka and Branislav Ivanovic.

“It is going to be a dream to be next to Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Andriy Shevchenko and Nicolas Anelka. I am going to watch how they play and if I am called on to be part of the team, I will give my maximum ... To be changing next to Drogba will be something out of another world.” –Di Santo