Neal Ardley has completed his new-look AFC Wimbledon forward line by signing Lyle Taylor from Scunthorpe United for an undisclosed fee.
The 25-year-old watched the Iron’s opening game of pre-season from the stands at Gainsborough Trinity as he waited for the transfer to go through.
He follows Cambridge forward Tom Elliott in joining the Dons’ strikeforce this summer and adds to Bayo Akinfenwa and Ade Azeez in competing for a place in Ardley’s starting XI next season.
Ardley told the club’s website: “I was interested in Lyle as soon as I heard that Scunthorpe might want to let him go because they were bringing in other strikers.
“I must have watched footage from between 10-12 games and the more I watched the more it convinced me that he was a player I wanted to sign.”
Greenwich-born Taylor started his career with Millwall and joined Scunthorpe last summer, scoring three times in 12 games for the League One side.
He spent the latter part of last season on loan at Patrick Thistle.
Wimbledon boss Ardley added: “I am absolutely delighted because I did not think I would be able to get this one over the line.
“We needed to do great work behind the scenes, in particular from our Chief Executive Erik Samuelson, who was fantastic, to get this deal done.
“When I sat down with Simon Bassey in May to discuss what we wanted, both Lyle and Tom Elliott fitted the criteria we were looking for.
“They were first choices in terms of the strikers we were trying to bring in. There were times when I felt we were not going to get either of them, but we have shown a lot of patience.”
