Scunthorpe United have made their third signing of the summer with the capture of Fulham striker Stephen Humphrys on a season-long loan.
Humphrys joins on loan from Premier League side Fulham and trained with his new team mates for the first time on Friday.
The 20-year-old was a regular scorer for the Cottagers at youth level after joining from Bury.
His goalscoring form at PL2 level saw him rewarded with a senior debut against Derby County in December before playing against Brighton a couple of weeks later.
He joined Shrewsbury for the second half of the 2016-17 season and scored two goals in 14 appearances.
A similar spell followed in the second half of last season when he played on loan at Rochdale when he scored three goals in 18 appearances.
One of the goals included a memorable equaliser against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup fifth round replay at Wembley.
It is hoped that Humphrys will feature at some point in the Iron’s first pre-season friendly at Winterton Rangers tomorrow.
"The team were successful last year and that's something I want to be part of this season," he told the club website.
"The aim is to get into the team first of all. I want to score goals, get assists, work hard and get us pushing up near the top of the table."
Fulham FC statement:
The Club can announce that Stephen Humphrys has joined League One outfit Scunthorpe United on loan for the upcoming 2018/19 season.
Last season, the Iron reached the League One Play-Offs only to be knocked out by eventual winners Rotherham United who had Whites 'keeper Marek Rodák in-between the sticks. Scunthorpe will be hoping to go one further this year.
Humphrys has had two previous loan spells, first at Shrewsbury Town and last season at Rochdale.
He was sent to Dale charged with helping keep them in League One, where they overturn a 12-point deficit in the league and managing to stay up by a point.
Humphrys also scored at Wembley in their impressive FA Cup run when they earned a replay against Tottenham Hotspur.
Scunthorpe's first competitive match of the upcoming season is against newly promoted Coventry City, which follows a busy pre-season schedule.
The striker joined the Iron on a season-long loan from Premier League side Fulham and featured in United’s first pre-season friendly against Winterton Rangers on Saturday.
He made an instant impact by scoring two goals in the Iron’s 8-1 victory at West Street.
Humphrys has been at Fulham since 2016 after joining from Bury.
He originally started in the youth team at Craven Cottage before moving up to the senior squad.
He made his debut for the Cottagers in December 2016 when he came on as a substitute against Derby County in the Championship.
Following that he joined Shrewsbury Town on loan for the second half of the 2016-17 season, scoring two goals in 14 appearances.
After returning to Fulham he spent the second half of last season on loan at League One Rochdale, scoring three goals in 18 appearances.
One of those goals came at Wembley when he scored for the Dale against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup.
The 20-year-old is always keen to get into the box and this is where most of his goals come from.
He has been prolific when playing for Fulham under-21s but will find things much tougher against more physical opposition.
He has had experience of League One football with Shrewsbury and Rochdale and although not as prolific he did net some goals for both teams.
He took his goal against Tottenham in the FA Cup very well which shows that he does have the ability.
Having experience of League One will help Humphrys and at 20 years old time is on his side.
It will be interesting to see how he plays in a side that hopes to be challenging for promotion, rather than one struggling at the wrong end of the table.
He is very quick as well as demonstrated when he chased down a ball and provided a cross for fellow new signing Olufela Olomola to score against Winterton.
The fact that Humphrys knows he will be at the club for the whole season will also help him, rather than having to chop and change.
What Humphrys said about joining the Iron
“I received a phone call from my agent with the news Scunthorpe were interested,” he told the club website. “As soon as I found out, I did everything I could at my end to make sure the deal went through.
“I’ve played here before and got a feel for the atmosphere, and remember the fans were good.
“The team were successful last year and that’s something I want to be part of this season. This is a new experience coming on loan to a team that’s more used to winning.