Long term target set to leave his club?

According to a source of Gills 365 Darren Byfield has told some of his colleagues that he will be away from Gillingham in 6 weeks time. Byfield has twice attracted the attensions of Paul Merson since his managerial role at the club. Byfield is understood to be wanting a move closer to his Birmingham home as he has recently a baby. With Gillinghams current position and a change of management, this has probably only raised his desire to leave.

Byfields contract is up in the summer however like ourselves Gillingham have a history of selling strikers before their contract runs out. They sold Paul Shaw to Sheffield United for an undisclosed fee in late 2004 when the striker had just 5 months left on his contract. Darren Byfields spell at Walsall came to a similar end during his time at Bescot.

Paul Merson has never hidden his admiration for Byfield and believes that at this level he will be a tremendous asset to us. Darren is one of the few players at Gillingham to come out with praise from fans so this news is likely to course uproar.

Despite just signing James Constable there is still a need for a striker at Bescot. Jorge Leiteo now seems to be prefurred as a right winger and Darius Larossa has yet to score in a first team fixture. If Walsall are to have promotion hopes then another striker is needed and Byfield will offer something different up front with his pace. We will await developments.