Former Town striker Connor Wickham has joined the MK Dons where he is reunited with his one-time Blues academy coach Liam Manning, the head coach with the Buckinghamshire club.
Wickham, 28, left Preston at the end of a short-term deal earlier this month.
"This is a great opportunity for me and one I couldn’t say no to,” Wickham told iFollow MK Dons.
"Me and the Gaffer go way back — he was one of my first coaches — and I have a few other connections here but, ultimately, this a chance for me to join a great club with huge potential and hopefully I can become a good addition to our push in the second half of the season.
"There is a great dressing room here and the manager has a good idea for where he wants to go with this team. I want to be a part of that journey and hopefully there’s an exciting few months to come for all of us.”
Manning said: "Connor is a player I have coached previously and I am looking forward to working with him again here at MK Dons.
"I can’t speak highly enough of his character, first and foremost, while he has also proven, throughout is career, what a top player he can be. He will certainly bolster our squad, on and off the pitch, for the remainder of the season.”
Dons sporting director Liam Sweeting said: "Connor is somebody I know personally from my time at Crystal Palace while he worked under Liam Manning during his Academy days at Ipswich Town.
"We invited him to train with us following his departure from Preston North End and has since expressed a real desire to sign on here at MK Dons and contribute towards our goals in the second half of this season.
"He certainly provides us with a different option in attack while his experience from playing, and scoring, at the highest level will certainly be of benefit to us in the important few months ahead.”
Wickham came through the Town academy and became the club's youngest-ever first-team player when he made his debut in April 2009 aged 16 years and 11 days.
The England U21 international departed for Sunderland for an initial £8.1 million fee in the summer of 2011, then having had spells on loan at Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United, he moved on to Crystal Palace in 2015.
Another spell with the Owls followed before he was released by the Eagles last summer when he joined Preston.