Getting Pelly Mpanzu and missing out on Johnny Kenny ... Rotherham United boss Steve Evans writes for the Advertiser

People picked up on the fact that I first spoke to him only a few hours prior to the 11pm deadline a week last Monday and came to the conclusion that our interest in him had come late.

I can tell you now, he was always Rotherham United's top target.

My initial contact with his parent club, Luton Town, came as long ago as December 28 when I spoke with their chief recruitment officer, Mick Harford, and that dialogue continued throughout January.

In the early stages, it was ‘unlikely’, ‘unlikely’, ‘unlikely’ but never a ‘no’.

Then the manager changed and Luton added some really good players to their group and the situation altered.

The first time I got a sense it could really happen was about a week before we signed Pelly.

It was on the afternoon of deadline day that I got the go-ahead to put a call into him. We were a long way down the road with another midfielder but the opportunity to take him was too good to not go and try to make it happen.

I'm delighted we've brought him to New York Stadium. He's tenacious, he's got creativity and he will improve us.

I'm not going to make out he's a world-beater, because he isn't. But, for sure, he's a good Championship/ top-end League One player.

He made a decent impression on his debut against Shrewsbury Town. After taking a little while to get into the game, he helped us control much of the second half with his pace and power and strength.

We did our best to add a striker to our ranks but a loan for Johnny Kenny, the Celtic boy we'd been after for a few weeks, eventually fell through.

We came close. At one point on deadline day I was heading towards the airport to go to Scotland!

It was disappointing to miss out on him. I'd seen him play out on loan in Ireland a couple of times before I re-joined the Millers and I said then: 'He's one I'd like to sign if he ever becomes available.'

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers always said that if Johnny went out, he would come to us.

I know Brendan very well and one thing I like about him is that he's as honest as the day is long.

Celtic sold a top striker in Kyogo Furuhashi for a lot of money. They had plans to bring someone in and just couldn't get it over the line. That meant that they had to hang on to Johnny.

We did good business in the window, bringing in Pelly and two other midfielders, Louie Sibley and Dan Gore.

Our fans should know that there were a number of teams that tried to sign Louie, a number who tried to sign Dan and a number that would have liked Pelly.

No other manager was like the bulldog I was when it came to not letting go of the man from Luton!​​​​​​