New signing Nathan Mavila was snapped up after impressing Orient coaches who were out watching some of the club’s loan players.

The 22-year-old was extensively scouted by some of the club’s coaches, including assistant manager Ross Embleton and director of football Martin Ling, and moved to Brisbane Road two weeks ago from Wingate and Finchley on a deal until the end of the season, having made 43 appearances for the Bostik Premier Division side this campaign.

Embleton told the Guardian Series last week: “I think with Nathan, he’s a player that has been picked up through the network. When I say the network, it has been people at the club going out and watching our loan players, including myself, the manager, Danny Webb, youth team manager Pete Gill and one or two other people across the club. Martin Ling has been out to watch those players as well. By watching our own players, we pick up on who the best performers are in those particular games that we go to watch.

“Nathan was certainly one of those that stood out when I went to watch Wingate and Finchley. We felt that he was one who showed real potential, with regards to potentially coming in. We watched him a number of times before we made that decision a permanent one.”

Mavila spent time at West Ham United earlier in his career and was named as a substitute for the Hammers in their Europa League tie against Astra Giurgiu in August 2015. However, he left the club a year later having failed to make an appearance for the Premier League side and has since enjoyed brief stints with Maidstone United, Cambridge City and Wealdstone.

He is yet to make his debut for the O’s or even make one of the club’s match-day squads so far, and Embleton said Orient fans may not see the 22-year-old in action just yet.

He said: “We felt that with Joe Widdowson as our left back, were we to lose him, we didn’t particularly have a natural player to fill that position. Nathan has certainly got that potential and those skills. So I think between now and the end of the season, it’s a very good opportunity for Nathan to come into a full-time environment at a club like this and at the same time, it was a good opportunity for us to look and see what he is capable of and whether he could play at this level.

“It’s one where you might not see him immediately in the team, but it’s a case of having a look at how he develops over the remainder of his contract to see whether he’s capable to break into the side.”