MK Dons manager Russell Martin makes this Will Grigg claim after the striker's deadline day transfer from Sunderland

The striker, who joined the Black Cats in a high-profile deal two years ago, has failed to hit his best form on Wearside.

And he will now return to stadium:mk on loan until the end of the current season after the Dons pipped Shrewsbury Town and Oxford United to his signature.

Grigg has previously enjoyed success with the club, scoring 22 times en route to promotion from League One in the 2014/15 season before earning a move to Wigan Athletic.

But things haven’t gone as well at the Stadium of Light, with the Northern Irish international mustering just eight goals since arriving for a fee of around £3million.

Martin retains confidence that his new addition can hit the goal trail though, and says the man himself is ‘desperate’ to do so.

Speaking about the deal to MK Dons’ official website, the manager said: "With Will, the deal looked like not happening at all so we were looking at other options.

"But once it became a small possibility, Andrew Cullen and Liam Sweet did a great job making sure it became a big possibility.

"We wanted to work hard to make it happen and so did Will. He had a lot of interest from this league especially, and he’s chosen to come to us over quite a few others.

“It’s not a nostalgic signing for me. I wasn’t here before with Will, but I know he did well and I hope this pleases a lot of our supporters and I’m sure it will.

"But the most pleasing thing for me is that he’s desperate to do well, to prove a lot of people wrong, and he wants to do it here.

"If it goes anywhere near as well as it did last time for him, then we’ll all be very happy.”

Grigg won’t be able to make his debut in the Papa John’s Trophy tie between Sunderland and MK Dons on Tuesday evening, and is also unlikely to be able to play in the league meeting between the pair on February 6.

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