Graham Alexander was delighted to secure the services of attacking midfielder Clayton Lewis, subject to international clearance and league ratification.
The 20-year-old put pen to paper on Tuesday afternoon ahead of the Iron's 2-1 Checkatrade Trophy victory over Grimsby Town - almost four months after the United boss first made contact with the player.
Speaking to iFollow Iron, Alexander expressed his delight at getting the deal over the line.
ON THE DEAL...
GA: It's been a long time coming. Once we'd got him through the door, I looked at the first time I'd spoken to him on my phone and I think it was June, trying to get it sorted. It's dragged on a little bit and it's been frustrating for both parties. We're still waiting for international clearance for him to be eligible for the games. We're looking forward to having him on board.
ON HIM ARRIVING IN ENGLAND...
GA: Since he's come over, he's joined in a little bit of training for half an hour before he had to go off and sort his passport out. We'll see how he is physically and get him up to speed on how we do things here. As we get through to weeks when we can have a full week of training - like next week - we can have a really good look at him and he can have a really good look at us and we look forward to seeing the qualities that he has.
ON THE ADDED COMPETITION AND HIS FITNESS...
GA: He knows he's come into a squad with good players, so he's going to have to fight for his chances. What he did yesterday was the warm-up and a few possession boxes, so nothing too strenuous. We haven't seen where he is at the moment, but it goes without saying, he will be behind. He's been training on his own and no matter how hard you push yourself, you won't be fit for 90 minutes straight away.
We'll get him up to speed and like we do with all our players, we will look after him physically and when he's ready he will get his opportunity. We won't rush him for any silly reasons, but it's just good to get him in the building now and we look forward to working with him.