When Rotherham United's pursuit of Dominic Iorfa really began

Rotherham United's interest in new boy Dominic Iorfa stretched back almost two months before he finally agreed a deal at AESSEAL New York Stadium.

The free-agent centre-half became the club's 16th arrival under Alex Bruce when he signed a short-term contract on September 15.

But it was as far back as July when the Millers first starting taking steps to try to add the 31-year-old former Sheffield Wednesday player to their League Two squad.

Recruitment chief Rob Scott was in negotiations to bring another centre-back, Ewan Otto, to South Yorkshire. Otto has the same agent as Iorfa, so Scott took the chance to register Rotherham's admiration for the man who spent seven seasons with the Owls.

Further down the line, boss Bruce got involved in the process and the outcome is that the 31-year-old is now a Miller until January.

Iorfa knew of Rotherham's initial approach which came at a time when he was being pursued from clubs in League One and the Championship.

"I got told," he said. "You hear loads of stuff during the summer. You're getting teams mentioned all over, basically. For the first few weeks, I kind of switched off and was spending a lot of time with my family.

"It was something that was mentioned, but along with a whole lot of other things as well. It was only as we got to the end of August that I really thought: 'Let me look at the options and see what makes most sense.'"

The defender joined the Millers for training, and club and player liked what they saw of each other enough to make the arrangement more permanent.

Iorfa, who worked out with a personal trainer while he was without a team, has since started the win at Northampton Town and the home draw with Crewe Alexandra.

"It won't take me long (to get fully up to speed)," he said. "I feel like I can do well. Obviously, I'm going to need a few games to get to my 100 per cent best because I haven't played for so long.

"I'm confident. I feel like I've been training well, and the training's been intense. But I'm only going to get match-fit by playing games.

"I feel I can play for a few more years. I've had a few issues over the years, but they're behind me now. I feel really good. I want to play for as long as I can. I feel like I'm in a good place. This is the right step for me, where I can kick on and show what I can do."

Iorfa has racked up more than 300 appearances in a career spent mainly in the Championship and wants to bring his experience to bear on a new, young squad seeking to revive the Millers' fortunes after two relegations in three seasons.

"I've learned a lot over the year," he said. "I've experienced similar stuff to now. I've come to club where we find ourselves in League Two. We all know that Rotherham, over the years, have been in the Championship and League One.

"I had a spell at Wednesday, when we found ourselves in League One and shouldn't have been at that level. I feel like I'm in a good place mentally, where I'm ready for the journey ahead. I can't wait to get going."