Franco Di Santo

[West Stand Lower 1]

lots of stuff on this now

http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,1...2990663,00.html

but nothing official from the club yet....

[EskWeston 696]

Won't anything official until he gets here over the weekend and has his medical and signs his contract...

[BahrainiBlue 32]

he's relly tall 193cm !!

[Stamford 3]

Argentine striker Franco Di Santo is determined to make a name for himself at Chelsea.

The Blues agreed a deal with Di Santo's club Audax Italiano before Christmas and the 18-year-old is now looking forward to linking up with his new team-mates.

He is particularly excited about the prospect of playing alongside Didier Drogba, but admits he still finds it hard to believe that he will be joining one of the world's biggest clubs so early in his career.

"I am still checking myself because sometimes I feel like I am dreaming," Di Santo told his homeland press.

"I didn't imagine this was going to happen so quickly. So much has happened to me over the last 18 months and this has made me very happy.

Calm

"I know nobody there knows who I am but I am calm and will try to win myself a place in the team and also some respect.

"I want to learn many things and I am going to love being next to Drogba, (Salomon) Kalou, (Frank) Lampard, (Shaun) Wright-Phillips, (Andrei) Shevchenko and (Nicolas) Anelka.

"Being in the same dressing room as Drogba is something from another world."

Di Santo is confident he will adapt to life in a new country and settle into English football quickly.

"I like cold and rainy weather so I don't have a problem with that," he explained.

"If I want to have success in my career I have to adapt to everything."

Source = SSN

[EskWeston 696]

Should be an announcement sometime this week i would imagine.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I hope so. He seems like a raw talent and I am looking forward to watching him develop.

[We Hate Scouse 10,286]

Hopefully he gets a start this season, would be nice to see him. But it might be to soon. He looks quality though.

[EskWeston 696]

Hopefully he gets a start this season, would be nice to see him. But it might be to soon. He looks quality though.

Get a start this season? At this rate i hope we SIGN him this season. For a transfer that was aparently done in December this has taken a very very very long time to get finalised.

[DavidEU 2,023]

Topic Closed.

Deal Done.

Go here: http://www.talkchelsea.net/forum/index.php...pic=945&hl=

[DavidEU 2,023]

Franco Di Santo, who bears Chelsea's number 9 shirt, was born in Mendoza, Mendoza Province, Argentina on the 7th April 1989. The young striker joined Chelsea from Audax Italiano of Chile on January 25th, 2008 and has been hailed as a new Hernáand Crespo.

After impressing in the Chelsea reserves in the second half of the 2007/2008 season, including a hattrick against Spurs, Franco will be looking to push his way into a strikeforce including Drogba, Anelka, Shevchenko, Kalou and Pizarro.

Discuss him here!

[Kez 2,727]

Good performance from him today he looks good

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Very impressed, showed he can play amongst the big boys.

[Badboy 1,526]

Is it me or does he remind you of a certain hernan crespo ?

[Milan 17,854]

Not only you. I think it was Riccy who nicknamed him Crespito.

[DavidEU 2,023]

Very impressed, showed he can play amongst the big boys.

From 45 minutes against a very poor Chinese team?

I don't think so mate.

[Aesthetic Relic 301]

With him scoring on his first team debut it'll give him a major confidence boost. He certainly has the makings over a very good striker.

When he came on he was quite quiet, then BANG...hit the post, minutes later...BANG back of the net.

I'd like to see him get a run in the first team this year instead of getting farmed out to some foreign team to get more experience. We've seen Sahar come into the team and fade, but this kid has something special about him. I can feel it.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

From 45 minutes against a very poor Chinese team?

I don't think so mate.

He didn't look overawed by playing alongside Lampard and co, and linked up very well with the team.

[EskWeston 696]

I thought he did very well in his first apperance for the first team, without showing what he can REALLY do. What really came through from him in the performance yesterday was his positional sense, he pulls into great positions to try and score and could have had more goals.

He showed he can play with the first team. Next test for him is the Premier League, how will he play against their defences.

So far though so good