WANDERERS have signed highly-rated Liverpool defensive starlet Jon Otsemobor on loan until the end of the season.

The 20-year-old right-back completed his transfer to Wanderers on Monday afternoon just before the 5pm deadline.

The Liverpool-born England under 20 international impressed manager Sam Allardyce after making his full Liverpool debut against Wanderers in the Reds' Carling Cup defeat at Anfield.

He enjoyed a loan spell with Hull City last term, where he scored three goals in nine appearances with the Humberside outfit.

Allardyce told the club's official website: "The loan signing of Jon Otsemobor is an excellent capture for us. Jon is a mobile player who loves to push forward from the back. He has tremendous pace and an excellent passing game.

"We needed to strengthen our defensive unit and Jon will add competition for places in this vital area.

"He made his senior debut against Bolton in the Carling Cup this season and I thought he was their most influential player that night."

With Nicky Hunt suspended for the trip to Leicester City next Tuesday, Otsemobor could be set to make his first Wanderers appearance at the Walkers Stadium.

The Wanderers boss had spent the weekend trying to coax three foreign-based players to the Reebok, in a determined effort to end his January recruitment drive on a high.

Former Juventus defender Moreno Torricelli, now with Spanish club Espanyol, was understood to be one of the targets, along with giant German striker Carsten Jancker.

Allardyce had his work cut out to bring in new faces adding to his previous transfer window signings -- Jamaican goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, Spanish striker Javi Moreno, former England international defender Steve Howey and the Guatemalan striker Dwight Pezzarossi.

"The mobile's been burning holes in my head," the manager joked after a hectic series of calls to contacts on the continent.