Scolari hails Chelsea's young general Franco and says he'll play a big role

All eyes were focused on debutants Deco and Jose Bosingwa in the 4-0 win over Guangzhou Pharmaceutical yesterday, as well as Scolari's tactical decisions for what was his first game in charge and the performance of Frank Lampard.

But the sight of 19-year-old striker Franco di Santo arriving at the right place at the right time to score the team's third goal sent a strong message to Old Trafford that Chelsea do have young talent to freshen up the squad.

Good start: Franco Di Santo scores in Chelsea's pre-season opener in China.

Scolari is already backing the Argentine, who joined from Chilean club Audax Italiano for £3.5million in January, to have a big future at Stamford Bridge.

He said: 'It's important for us to put some young players in the team. Di Santo scored one goal which is good for us and it's good for him that he played in this match. He will grow as a player and we can continue to build for the future of the team for the next 11, 15, 20 years.'

Such is the impact Di Santo has made in just six months at the club he is expected to play a significant role in the forthcoming season as one of the back-up strikers.

He starred for the reserve team in the second half of the last campaign by scoring seven goals in eight games and finished as their top scorer.

Sporting director Frank Arnesen has been charged with the task of finding young talent that is good enough to progress into the first team and it looks like his two-year scouting mission on Di Santo is finally paying off.

The Dane said: 'He is closer to being in the first team squad than anyone else at the moment. He has already played at the highest level in Chile so has a very good background. He didn't speak a word of English when he came here, knew nothing about our training methods and still scored many goals straight away.'

At 6ft 3ins, he has a physical presence on the pitch as well as a knack of scoring goals in a similar vein to former Chelsea striker and fellow Argentine Hernan Crespo.

He played in South America's equivalent of the Champions League and such was the standard of his play that clubs such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid also chased his signature.

Yet he was keen to follow in Crespo's footsteps by making a mark at Chelsea.

In April, he said: 'There were possibilities to go to the Latin countries but the football I always enjoyed watching most was the English football and I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to come. I used to enjoy watching Hernan Crespo when he was at Chelsea.'

The progress of another striker may not be welcomed so much by fading star Andriy Shevchenko, whose lack of fitness has seen him ruled out of the first two games of their pre-season tour in Asia.

Shevchenko may be one of the ageing players Ferguson was referring too and the number of first-team opportunities for the Ukrainian next season looks bleak.

Scolari promised when he started the job that he would bring young players through and in Di Santo he could have been handed the type of prospect to make Ferguson live to regret questioning Chelsea's ability t o challenge next term.