Leyton Orient head coach Ian Hendon hopes the club can complete the permanent signing of Jack Payne next summer after agreeing a season-long loan for the Peterborough United midfielder.

Payne finally joined the O’s on Monday, just hours before the transfer window closed, bringing to an end the club’s prolonged pursuit of the 23-year-old.

Orient hoped to sign him back in July after the midfielder travelled with the squad to Spain but it appeared the move had broken down after the clubs failed to agree a fee.

But the League Two leaders’ persistence has paid off this week after the O’s were able to sign their main transfer target.

Speaking after Tuesday’s 2-1 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat at Luton Town, Hendon said: “Finally a bit of good news. It’s been a long, old process trying to get Jack and finally it got done today at the last minute. We were hoping we could have him on the bench but again paperwork never got done and we didn’t get the clearance for this evening. It’s nice to have him on board and it’s been a long old task that one.

“It’s a season-long loan and there are no recalls in that at all. I don’t think that would have helped anybody. Jack’s been desperate to come and has been like that since pre-season. We’re delighted to have him and it’s a season-long loan. There’s a few clauses in there and if things go well hopefully we’ll get him at the end of the season.”

Payne could make his debut at Exeter City this weekend but may have to wait for a chance to start.

Hendon said: “He’s [Payne] not had a lot of game time. He’s had a couple of reserve games and an appearance for Peterborough a couple of weeks back so we’ve got to get him up to speed. It would have been ideal tonight if we could have used him but that wasn’t to be. When you look at our midfield, are we going to change it at the moment? Probably not.”