BURNLEY boss Owen Coyle’s six month pursuit of Peruvian goalkeeper Diego Penny ended yesterday when the 24-year-old penned a three-year deal at Turf Moor.

Penny, who captained Bolognesi and made over 150 appearances for the Peru Primera Division side, was granted a work permit at a Home Office appeal in Sheffield.

And Coyle confessed that the Clarets beat off strong opposition from across the continent to land the 6ft 5in stopper.

He said: “We are obviously delighted to sign Diego. He said it’s always been his desire to play in English football and he turned down other offers from other European clubs to come here and play.

“We were alerted to him in January, but there’s nothing done in a week. We done a full background check on him and sent a scout out there twice to check him out thoroughly.

“I think he’ll be a tremendous addition to the football club.”

Coyle also revealed that he had added the personal touch to the move.

He said: “I was supposed to be heading out to Hong Kong to play in a Masters tournament in May, but I scrapped that to fly to Madrid to speak to Diego. If we hadn’t done that, then I think there’s a chance we would’ve missed out on him altogether.”

Penny played for the South Americans in two recent 2010 World Cup qualifiers, which resulted in a credible 1-1 draw with Brazil in November 2007 and a 5-1 defeat to Ecuador three days later, which left Peru ninth in the South American qualifying group.

And it was his performances against the Brazilians that really excited Coyle.

He said: “He’s six-foot-five, he’s a great shot stopper and he kicks well. In the match against Brazil he singlehandedly kept the likes of Kaka out. He was outstanding.”

A work permit hearing was called as Penny fell just two appearances for Peru short of the required amount after suffering a hamstring injury last season.

But chairman Barry Kilby said: “I think we put forward a convincing case for Diego and we are delighted that the panel saw fit to agree with our opinion that he could be a very big player for Burnley Football Club.”

Bolognesi have twice lifted the Copa Peru and also won the 2007 Primera Division Clausura, qualifying for the 2008 Copa Libertadores.