A delighted Gareth Ainsworth says Gillingham’s recruitment team has delivered on almost all of his summer transfer targets.
The Gills boss still has work to do, however, with up to four more arrivals expected in the coming weeks and departures also possible.
Gillingham let 14 players go at the end of last season and have so far added five fresh faces over the summer with defender Liam Gordon, wingers Kadeem Harris and James Brophy, striker Will Goodwin and young midfielder Zane Albarus arriving at ME7.
A goalkeeper is close to being signed, while Ainsworth is also targeting a left-back and further additions.
He said: “It’s well documented that I released a lot of players. I want to try and get much more of my stamp on this team, and that’s been the key in the summer.
“I have to say that the staff and [managing director] Joe Comper have worked incredibly hard in recruitment.
“It’s been a little bit slow at times. As always, expectations of players is crazy at times. You have to wait, spin plates and negotiate, and they’ve done it really well.
“We’ve got most of our targets, what we’ve set out to get. I dare say there’ll be a couple more coming in before the first game.
“We’ve brought the targets in that we wanted. There’s only one where we struggled, and there’s some crazy money knocking around, which we’re not about to try and compete with, but on the whole, we’ve done really well this year.
“You never get every target, it’s like shooting at goal, but I think that our ratio has been pretty good in this summer window.
“There’ll be two or three additions to the squad now, maybe even four and maybe even a couple of departures. We’ll have to see on that but we’re shaping into something exciting.
“I think there’ll be many teams in the league who will look at our squad and go, you know what, I’d take that. I’m really happy with it.”
The Gills were back in for pre-season testing on Thursday, and have five full weeks to prepare for their first competitive fixture, at home against Luton Town in the Carabao Cup.
A week later they kick off their League Two challenge against Walsall at Priestfield.
Ainsworth said: “I want the Gills fans to come and see the new signings and a real stamp of what I want to do.
“It’s probably taken 14 to 15 months since I’ve been here to get the majority of what I want in, and hopefully in that first game we can perform.
“I’m really happy with the squad I’ve got and I’m excited for the season.
“Left-back’s obviously the box we need to tick. We’re probably looking at a couple of formations to play, and at the moment, if we went to a back four, we’re very slim pickings on left-back.
“I’ve got a couple of targets. Whether we get them in or not, we’ll see, but we’re working very hard on that position.
“The recruitment team’s doing a really good job.
“I’m really pleased with what we’ve brought in so far.
“There will be others added and hopefully in the next week, there’ll be a couple more names to shout about because that’s how close we are at the moment.
“But I know football and I know things can turn on its head at the last minute.
“I’m really pleased and proud of everyone that’s worked hard on that, including [owners] Brad and Shannon [Galinson] in America. They’ve played their part in helping and phone calls and things like that.”
Ainsworth plans to have less senior players in his squad for the new season but hopes to carry a squad of similar size overall, supplemented with youngsters such as Cruz Beszant, Louie Dayal and Michael Luxton, who have stepped up from the youth team, and other young professionals.
“I’m really happy with where we are,” he said. “I think getting it right in the summer, getting the actual permanents in is really important for me.
“I’m sure there’ll be one or two triallists knocking about, but on the whole, I think we’ll be body heavy ready to go into the games.”
The list of players leaving since the end of last season might not be complete. Ainsworth admits others might yet leave.
He said: “There might be some who want to get more game time. There might be some who have got interest elsewhere.
“The agents all play their part in the window now. Sometimes it’s out of my control and an agent will ring me up and say, ‘This player has been attracting this club’s attention and this club are coming in for him’.
“We had it last year with a couple of players, Joe Gbode left on the last day [of the window] and things like that. So, you never know.
“But I think that with what I still want to try and bring in, we might be able to make some room. But at the moment, for every member of the squad I’ve got, I’m really happy with it.”
