There’s something quite fitting about choosing the exact time we’re being questioned over our lack of young talent at the club to introduce one of our brightest prospects.

19 year old Franco Di Santo announced his arrival off the bench in the pre-season game against Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals not only with a goal, but with some great positional play that must surely have pleased his new boss.

Di Santo, joined from Chilean club Audax Italiano in a 4 and a half year deal for £3.5million in January, and whilst the fee might seem questionable for a player his age, this was probably due to the queue forming to express an interest in the young striker. Certainly, some of his previous performances, including his display in South America’s equivalent of the Champions League, attracted the attention of some of the biggest clubs in Europe.

His 6ft 3in frame along with his eye for goal and positional awareness bears somewhat of a resemblance to fellow Argentine Hernan Crespo which maybe isn’t that coincidental since he models himself on the former Chelsea striker - not that that’s a bad thing as long as he doesn’t plan on a long-term loan at Inter as well.

Franco spent the second half of last season in the Chelsea reserves, ending up with seven goals in eight games and a fair few assists to his credit – not bad considering the plan mapped out for him on arrival was a few years of fine tuning before he would even be considered for first team football.  However, the young Argentine is now thought to be closer to breaking into the first team than anyone else, with a role as a back-up striker being considered for the forthcoming season.

In fact, the new Chelsea boss is so impressed by what he’s seen already that he’s backing Di Santo to have a big future at the club and from what I’ve seen so far, even I’m inclined to agree.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51Zu3wV3Xbc]

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