Former Wolves and Ipswich striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake is looking forward to a challenge with Preston North End, after signing a deal with the club until the end of the season.
The 28-year-old has been training with North End for almost a month now and had been without a club since leaving Ipswich at the end of the previous campaign.He spent time training with Oldham and Brentford earlier this term and has now landed a contract with Simon Grayson's North End, who already boast former Premier League forwards Jermaine Beckford and Kevin Davies in their attacking arsenal.
"We gave Sylvan the best opportunity," Grayson explained.
"It wasn't a week's trial, it was four or five weeks and he has shown he is willing, by staying here and working hard.
"We have seen enough in training to see that his fitness levels have improved all the time, to be close to where he wants to be, but also that he has the ability of being a top striker and a clinical finisher."
Preston's top scorer Joe Garner has been out since November with a knee injury and the 26-year-old may not return until March.
Ebanks-Blake, who is eligible to make his debut against Norwich in the FA Cup this weekend, added: "I am looking forward to the challenge.
"The training has been fantastic; the manager was very straight with me and that is what I have needed.
"From the first day I came in the opportunity was presented to me to be a part of something and I have worked hard ever since to earn a contract.
"It is a new beginning for me. I have a difficult period for the first time in my career and it is how you come out of that and the desire you have to play football and that desire still burns in me and I now have to work hard and prove that desire to myself and to everyone else."