Chelsea have signed Argentinian striker Franco Di Santo on a four-and-a-half year contract.

The Argentina Under 20 international joins the Blues from Chilean side Audax Italiano for an undisclosed fee.

The 6ft 4ins forward has been compared to Argentina legend Diego Maradona with Chelsea reported to have agreed a deal worth more than £3million for Di Santo.

The club is believed to have beaten the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool to sign the player, who holds an Italian passport.

HKS produced the original designs for the 71,000-capacity arena in Stanley Park which were rejected by co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett late last year when they ran £50million over budget.

But after revising those plans, and beating off Manchester-based AFL’s rival bid, the American company will get the contract for the new ground.

Hicks and Gillett met with chief executive Rick Parry in New York earlier this month to study both new designs.

AFL produced the plans originally agreed before the American duo took over the club.

They were dropped by Hicks and Gillett and they have again found their revised scheme rejected.

Hicks believes HKS’ plan was the right route to go down.

The former Nottingham Forest and West Ham striker struggled initially to make an impact at Aston Villa following his summer switch from Upton Park, but despite limited opportunities he has still managed to bag three goals in just 10 appearances this season.

The most recent of those strikes came during the 2-2 draw with Liverpool on Monday and his performances have started to attract attention from elsewhere.

Harewood could be set to be handed a first international call-up by Barbados at the age of 27, while Villa boss O’Neill has confirmed that enquiries have been made about the player’s availability from other clubs keen on obtaining his services.

As captain of his national side Kanu felt that it would be wrong for him to leave his team-mates during the tournament and has decided to remain in Ghana.

He picked up the problem in the warm-up to the Super Eagles’ 1-0 defeat to Ivory Coast in their opening game on Monday.

Obviously struggling, Kanu lasted just 55 minutes of the contest before being replaced, but he is refusing to accept that the problem is serious and is hoping to be ready for Nigeria’s vital game with Mali on Friday.

The striker is believed to be considering his options after becoming frustrated by his lack of first-team opportunities at the Madejski, having made just five Premier League starts for Steve Coppell’s side this season.

The England U21 international enjoyed a successful first season in the top-flight during the 2006/07 campaign grabbing seven goals, but he is yet to get off the mark this term and feels that a move may help him to rediscover his form.

Hammond, though, has revealed that the club are reluctant to let the player go as the Royals have one of the smallest squads in the division and are determined to ensure that they have adequate cover in all areas of the pitch.

City chairman and owner Thaksin Shinawatra has promised further funds to manager Sven-Goran Eriksson after their summer spending spree.

So far Mexico international Nery Castillo – a loan signing from Shakhtar Donetsk – is the only new recruit, and Backe said: “January is a difficult transfer window.

“Most of the time you get players other clubs don’t want, but if you want to go for the top-class players, a lot of them are still in European competitions.

“When you are looking at what City have done after six months, you have to go for the top-class players that you know can help us directly – there’s not many of them about.

“You can’t just buy for the sake of it,” he told the club’s official website.

“You have to find the right player if you are going to buy, otherwise you have to wait until the summer. We will not buy an average player just to bring someone in.”

One player who Backe and Eriksson are only now getting a first look at is highly-rated young striker Daniel Sturridge.

Newcastle United were linked with the centre-back, who has three-and-a-half years remaining on his current contract, earlier this week, but Boro manager Gareth Southgate moved to deny the rumours.

Reports claimed that the Magpies were keen to open talks to take Woodgate back to St James’ Park, however it now appears Spurs have gained the upper hand in their bid to sign the 28-year-old in the January transfer window.

The England international has been linked with moves away from White Hart Lane recently after being dropped for Radek Cerny.

However, while Robinson is slightly perturbed with how the whole situation has been handled, he has no plans to quit the club in search of first-team football.

Robinson has laughed off talk that he has submitted a transfer request and is focusing all his energies on winning his place back in Juande Ramos’ starting XI.

“If the manager decides that if I’m not performing or I’m not up to the standard that he wants at the time, then he picks the team and you can’t argue with that,” he told Sky Sports News.

“I was disappointed with the way the situation was handled let’s say.

“I saw reports yesterday saying I’ve put in a transfer request: I’ve never put in a transfer request.