Warnock Expecting More Deals as New Boy Pearce Admits his Excitement

As Ciaran put it simply this lunchtime - the Jason Pearce deal was the worst kept secret. The deal has been rumoured for weeks and now finally Neil Warnock has got his man.

Little did we know, Warnock has being hunting Pearce for a long time, right back to his Bournemouth days.

In Pearce we looked to have signed a real warrior of a centre-half. In his own words.."I'll put my head in where others won't." No wonder Warnock wanted the guy.

Both manager and player have had plenty to say. I've picked out the best bits from the interview but you can find them both on the Leeds official site.

Pearce on signing for the club:

"Leeds showed an interest a few weeks ago and as soon as I knew of that I wanted to get it done. I'm glad it's done now. The gaffer showed me around, and you can see what a massive club this is with great facilities, and you can't turn it down.

I'm delighted to be here and can't wait to move forward now. When you look at the fans here...they want to be back where they belong, and I hope I can help.

I've got drive and will give 100%. The gaffer wants to bring in some good players and I want to be a part of that. Everyone will be in the same position when we start again with lots of new faces, but hopefully we can all bond quickly in pre-season, have a good one, and start the season well.

I think everyone knows I'm no-nonsense. I'll put my head maybe where some others won't, I'm a team player and a leader as well. For me now, personally, I've got the opportunity at a massive club with a great gaffer who wants to bring in a lots of new players. I'm really looking forward to it."

Warnock on Pearce and new signings in the pipeline said:

"I'm delighted. He is a lad I've been looking at a lot and for a long while now. I saw him when he was at Bournemouth and almost took him to QPR last summer. I tried to get him in March when I first came here but couldn't quite do it.

I think he epitomises what I'm looking for in a player. He's got hunger, enthusiasm, and he won all the player of the year awards down at Portsmouth. He's just the type of player we need.

He'll love it here and I'm sure he'll be a fans favourite. He's not old, he's only 24, he's not a 34-year-old. He's got so much to prove and I think we can make him a better player here.

This is the hard work just starting. We've had some late night and we've met quite a lot of players and agents. We spoke to two or three on Thursday. I've been at some clubs where I've done deals at home because I didn't want them to see the training ground or the facilities - that's not the case here.

Once they see the facilities they don't want to leave. We're trying to get some deals done and hopefully we can progress quickly."