Gillingham manager Mark Stimson looks to have been thwarted in his bid to bring Stuart Fleetwood and Jon Ashton to the club.
Stimson looks to miss out on top two targets
Gillingham manager Mark Stimson looks to have been thwarted in his bid to bring Stuart Fleetwood and Jon Ashton to the club.
Forest Green striker Fleetwood remains Stimson's top target despite having had one bid already spurned back in November.
Stimson has returned with another offer for the 21-year-old - believed to be around £200,000 - however with a number of clubs monitoring Fleetwood, the Gills could miss out.
Stimson told the club's official site: "I would love to bring him here but a lot of clubs are chasing him and quite rightly so.
"He has scored a lot of goals for Forest Green and would be a useful asset for us.
"It is difficult, though, because he might be out of our price range. We will be working hard on that one."
Interested
Stimson is also looking to shore up his back line, with Ian Cox and Efe Sodje currently sidelined and Adam Bygrave only on loan from Reading.
However he may have to look elsewhere after Grays refused him permission to approach the 25-year-old Ashton.
Stimson told
kentonline: "I spoke to the Grays chairman on Boxing Day and said to him I'm interested in John when the window opens again.
"He was honest and said nothing will happen in the first two weeks of the window because his club are still in the Trophy and have a chance of the play-offs and you have to respect that.
"There are a couple of other targets in that area. He's one of a few centre halves that we'll be looking at and hopefully we'll be able to add to that area of the pitch."
