Gillingham are having to play a waiting game before completing a deal for a new central defender.

There is an agreement in place for the new man, believed to be from a Championship side, but the Gills are being made to wait before the deal can be finalised.

The Gills managed a clean sheet last time out, beating Accrington 1-0, but boss Steve Evans is keen to add an extra centre-half to the squad after Arsenal loanee Zech Medley returned to his parent club. Another central defender, Christian Maghoma, hasn’t played in the league since the end of October.

Evans was also in for a striker but admits that deal is still being negotiated. As for the defender, he said: “We’re very close on the defender, in principle we have agreed something for a centre-back but we are in a chain. They are expecting to make a signing on Tuesday but sometimes that can change.

“We have agreed something but I have seen players in my office ready to sign with a pen in their hand and then something changes.”

It might mean the Gills won’t have the new man in before they take on league leaders Lincoln City this week. They play at Sincil Bank on Tuesday night.

Evans has managed to bring in reinforcements last week, handing starts to Southampton midfielder Callum Slattery and returning Hearts man Olly Lee at Accrington on Saturday.

While Evans had been after Slattery for several weeks, the Lee deal was quick to be agreed.

The Gills boss said: “I have never known the chairman say yes so quickly to a player ever. As soon as I mentioned the name he just said ‘get him in’. That tells you the quality Olly has.”

Evans didn’t name names but said he had a couple of players from Saturday’s team carrying knocks ahead of their midweek match.

He said: “We have a couple who started that may struggle but we had a strong bench and we will go with what we have got.

“We really need two or three players in to help the group.”

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