True, although I'm not certain about the 15k being all we've spent in recent seasons. We were told it was the first fee the board had paid for a player, but then a few seasons ago we were told we signed O'Connor and Cowan-Hall for a fee. There probably are better players around available for free though so this might not be the best option correct.
If we did wait until October though, as far as I'm aware, he could always be 'on trial' and be playing in the Peninsular league, though not an ideal situation.