Gunners sign young Millwall striker in £1m deal

Arsenal have won the race to sign Cherno Samba, Millwall's highly sought-after 15-year-old striker. The teenager has agreed to go to Highbury and a £1m deal is being finalised.

Arsenal have won the race to sign Cherno Samba, Millwall's highly sought-after 15-year-old striker. The teenager has agreed to go to Highbury and a £1m deal is being finalised.

Samba has decided to join Arsenal despite spending spells at Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester United. The Gunners are hoping to agree staged payments with Millwall and avoid a tribunal. They will pay about £250,000 up front with the rest being spread out over the length of his stay.

Blackburn Rovers are offloading several of their more expensive players. Their manager, Graeme Souness, has sold Steve Harkness to Sheffield Wednesday for £200,000, taking a £500,000 loss on the former Liverpool left-back in just over six months.

The midfielder Billy McKinlay has gone to Motherwell on loan for three months and will eventually be freed, while Christian Dailly has been made available for half of the £5.6m paid for him two years ago.

Scotland's manager Craig Brown has called up the Leeds defender Dominic Matteo to his squad to face San Marino and Croatia in World Cup qualifying matches next month.

Matteo was born in Dumfries but has spent all but the first four years of his life in England. He represented England at Under-19 and Under-21 levels but as these were friendlies the door was left open for qualification for Scotland.

Manchester United remain committed to appointing a director of communications despite sacking Alison Ryan, who was dismissed two weeks before she was due to take up the post when it emerged that she had misled the club about her qualifications.

SCOTLAND SQUAD (World Cup qualifiers v San Marino, Serravalle, 7 October; v Croatia, Zagreb, 11 October): Douglas (Dundee), Gould (Celtic), Main (St Johnstone), Sullivan (Spurs); Boyd (Celtic), Dailly (Blackburn), Elliott (Leicester), Hendry (Coventry), Naysmith (Hearts), O'Neil (Wolfsburg), Pressley (Hearts), Ritchie (Manchester City), Weir (Everton), Matteo (Leeds), Burley (Derby), Cameron (Hearts), Hutchison (Sunderland), Davidson (Leicester), McCann (Rangers), Ferguson (Rangers), Holt (Kilmarnock), Johnston (Rangers), Lambert (Celtic), McNamara (Celtic), Dodds (Rangers), Gallacher (Newcastle).