Gillingham manager Neil Harris has made his plans for the rest of the transfer window clear, with new attacking options being the primary focus according to Kent Online.
It has been reported that the Gills are currently pursuing two forwards as they look to strengthen their attacking ranks for the forthcoming season. The Kent outfit currently have just two strikers in their ranks, those being Tom Nichols and Oli Hawkins, with the latter returning from a heel injury.
That heel injury has kept Hawkins out for the majority of pre-season, leaving Nichols as the only out and out striker. It is somewhat obvious that this is a problem that needs addressing at Priestfield, as the rest of the squad has both strength and depth to allow the Gills to be very competitive next season.
Harris’ men really turned the screw in the second half of the 2022/23 season, where they would gain 40 of their 55 points seeing them finish 17th in League Two. Gillingham really stood out in the second half of the season, and amassed the third highest amount of points in that time, which was some achievement given their start to the season. Harris will be hoping that they can continue that form into the forthcoming season.
The squad has already been strengthened this summer, with the signings of ; Conor Masterson from QPR, Max Clark from Stevenage, Shadrach Ogie from Leyton Orient and the marquee signing of Jonny Williams from Swindon. If Harris can now bring in one or two goal scorers then we should expect to see Gillingham right near the top of the League Two table this season.
What’s been said?
Speaking about his plans to bring in a new striker, Harris said:
“We feel we have developed and we do feel we are a lot closer to one or two, a lot closer to two which hopefully means one will come off, one might not, you have to hedge your bets sometimes.
“I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. The problem we have at the moment is there are a lot of clubs, certainly in the league above, looking for attacking players and unfortunately they can pay more wages than we can. We have to be respectful of that.
“We are looking for players and trying to progress players and hopefully we get one in the building, if not for Tuesday, then for Saturday”
Although he would prefer permanent additions, the manager has also not ruled out loan moves by saying:
“The loan market is definitely an option and if we end up down that route then absolutely fine.
“We haven’t got any loan players in the building at the moment, we have plenty of opportunity.
“The loan market is not a priority for us, we would rather take our own players as a football club, but if it is the loan market then we are prepared to work for that as well.”
Writer’s view
Gillingham currently have one of the strongest sides in League Two for the forthcoming season, and bolstering their forward ranks will only make that squad stronger. I expect the Gills to at the very least be in contention for the play-offs next season and given their incredible run of form towards the end of the year as well as their business in the transfer window, times are finally looking up for Gills fans.
