Wednesday beat off rivals to sign Rochdale striker O’Grady

The former Leicester City striker was at Hillsborough yesterday for a medical after an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £300,000, was agreed.

Owls manager Gary Megson has been chasing O’Grady for several weeks but an initial bid of £200,000 was rejected by the Lancashire club.

Megson had also stressed the urgent need to bring in a new striker after the summer departures of Neil Mellor and Paul Heffernan and the loss to injury of Jermaine Johnson.

O’Grady, 25, played against the Owls as a second-half substitute for Rochdale on the opening day of the season. He has previously played for Rotherham United and Bradford City.

O’Grady – who has signed a three-year deal – has posted 206 starts so far, scoring 57 goals, and has been allocated the No 9 shirt at Hillsborough.

“Chris’s name was one of those on the list that I handed to Milan (Mandaric) at the end of last season so I am really pleased that we have signed him now,” said manager Megson.

”Rochdale did not want to lose him and there was competition for his signature from a Championship club and one of our League One rivals, both of whom are in the Yorkshire area.

”Chris has a big physique and strong stature and defenders do not relish playing against him. He has honesty and a desire to play at the highest level and hopefully he will achieve his ambitions at this club.”

Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri have been included in Arsenal’s Champions League squad for their play-off round tie with Udinese.

The Gunners have named both midfielders in their 25-man A-list for this month’s two-legged tie, despite intense speculation both are set to leave the Emirates Stadium. Were captain Fabregas or contract rebel Nasri to feature in the contest, they would be cup-tied if they were then to complete moves elsewhere.