An older and wiser Adebayo Akinfenwa is looking forward to another chapter at Priestfield.

The big striker returns for a second spell having hit 34 league goals for Northampton over the past two years.

He has previously been with the Gills in the 2010/11 season, where he and Cody McDonald netted 37 goals between them.

He said: “I went away and scored a lot of goals. Maybe your body gets slower but your mind gets sharper.

“I am the oldest out of the forwards and if I can pass my experiences on to them as well, that will benefit us.

“I’m not some 50-year-old. I’m 31 and feel in shape and there is still a lot to give.”

The last time Akinfenwa was at the club he and McDonald were the first choice strikers but under Martin Allen, he will be in and out of the starting XI, as the Gills boss sticks to his squad philosophy.

Akinfenwa said: “Team success out-weighs any personal success. People may say I don’t run the channels and I may not do that even more now but I can read the game.”

Akinfenwa has been playing League 2 football for the last four years and is looking forward to testing himself back at the higher level.

He last played League 1 football, for Northampton, in the 2008/09 season, scoring 15 goals.

He said: As a footballer, the time you lose the passion to test yourself, it’s the start of the end. You want to go and test yourself and League 1 is a tough league, with some good teams.”