Jamal Blackman has revealed he has held talks with Bristol Rovers since the start of January over a loan move to the club.
The Chelsea goalkeeper joined the Gas on loan until the end of the season yesterday, 22 days into the transfer window.
Yet Rovers' interest first arose when number one stopper Anssi Jaakkola dislocated his shoulder on January 1 and, speaking to the club's Twitter page, Blackman said that is when Rovers first made contact.
He said: "I'm really looking forward to it, I've heard a lot about Bristol Rovers, it's a big club and I can't wait to get started.
"We were in talks around the beginning of January, I was in Holland after training out there.
"I'd just finished a training camp out there and found out that Bristol Rovers were interested.
"It was an opportunity to play games, I heard about the injury, so I thought it was a good time to come down."
Rovers boss Ben Garner has been aware of Blackman for a long time, and revealed to the keeper that he first tried to sign him as a teenager.
He said: "It's a good team, I'm looking forward to playing with everyone.
"There's some good coaching staff there so I'm looking forward to getting out on the pitch.
"I was talking to Ben Garner and he said he tried to sign me from my Sunday team before I went to Chelsea, so I could have been at Palace with him."
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