By Matt Cecil

A new striker was top of most Wanderers fans' Christmas lists, and in Leon Knight, the Blues have snapped up one of the best finishers outside the Premiership.

The 25-year-old arrives at Adams Park with a fantastic goalscoring record of 81 goals in 227 starts in his career, which has seen him score regularly in all three levels of the Football League, and hopefully it won't be long until the diminutive striker is finding the net for the Blues in League One.

Born in Hackney, Knight began his career with Senrab FC, a well-known Sunday League team for youngsters which has also produced the likes of John Terry, Bobby Zamora and Sol Campbell, and Leon starred alongside Jermain Defoe in his teenage years.

And Senrab chairman Tony Carroll said in 2006 that, of the two strikers, he felt that Leon had the more potential:

"If I had to say which one was better when they were 13 or 14 I would say it was Leon," he told icWales.co.uk. "It was a close-run thing and there wasn't much in it, but he was just ahead on points.

"You could see he had that bit of class even at that age. Jermain was nearly as good and they just used to dish out the goals between them. The team would win 6-0 and they would score three each. There was always a bit of friendly rivalry to see who could score the most."

The pair went their separate ways, with Knight joining Chelsea in 1999, and was later loaned out to Queens Park Rangers, where he made his professional debut in March 2001. After returning to Stamford Bridge that summer, Knight made his only appearance for Chelsea in a UEFA Cup clash with Levski Sofia in September, before joining Huddersfield in October.

It was at the West Yorkshire club where he really kick-started his career, with 17 goals in his debut season, including a brace against the Blues' in a 4-2 win for the Terriers at Adams Park in March 2002.

The next season saw him move up a level when he joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan, but he was often employed as a winger by the Championship club and only bagged three goals in his time at Hillsborough.

Knight joined League One side Brighton in August 2003 and, after scoring four times in the first three games of the season, turned his loan deal from Chelsea into a permanent transfer for £100,000. An incredible season saw Leon score 27 times as Albion won promotion via the play-offs, with Knight's penalty defeating Bristol City in the final at the Millennium Stadium.

Leon stayed with the Withdean club for another year and a half before moving to League One side Swansea City in January 2006 for £125,000, and scored a hat-trick on his debut against MK Dons. A further nine goals followed that season as the Welsh side progressed to the play-off final, where they were beaten on penalties by Barnsley.

After scoring seven goals for the Swans at the start of the next season, Knight moved on loan to Barnsley in the Championship for a brief spell before being signed by MK Dons for a nominal fee in January 2007. But he found it hard to break into the side as a striker due to the strong form of Clive Platt and Izale McLeod, and often featured on the wing as the Dons chased promotion.

Knight scored in three successive matches for the Dons at the start of the current campaign, and bagged a brace in the Sky match against Lincoln City in October, but found himself down the pecking order at stadium:MK, prompting his switch to Adams Park.

The 5'5" striker was a popular player with the Dons, and wrote a regular blog on their website in a similar style to Jamie Young's column here on wwfc.com. In one blog, named 'Knight's Realm', Leon said that Ian Wright ranks as one of his greatest heroes of all time and was delighted to hear the Dons fans adopt the "Ian Wright Wright Wright" chant when the striker joined MK in January.

Let's hope Knight can display some goalscoring abilities similar to the former Arsenal and England striker when he takes his place up front for the Wanderers - and give Scott McGleish a run for his money with some stunning acrobatic goal celebrations!

Welcome to Wycombe Wanderers, Leon.