Gillingham midfielder Regan Charles-Cook will leave the club when his contract expires at the end of June after turning down a new deal.
Charles-Cook, 23, will join Scottish side Ross County on a two-year deal.
He was one of five out-of-contract players that manager Steve Evans wanted to stay on at Gillingham, alongside captain Max Ehmer, forwards Brandon Hanlan and Mikael Mandron and youngster Henry Woods, but he had decided to pursue pastures new.
Record
After joining from Charlton Athletic in the summer of 2018 under former manager Steve Lovell, Charles-Cook made 30 appearances in his debut season at Priestfield, but found game time limited last season under new manager Evans.
He made 21 appearances for the Gills in the 2019/20 campaign, scoring three goals, including a smart volley away at Blackpool and the winner away to Accrington Stanley.
Inside reaction
Speaking to KentSportsNews on Tuesday, Gills assistant manager Paul Raynor said:
“Regan probably did not have the game time that we would have anticipated or wanted, but that was mainly due to the form of Olly Lee.
“There has been an offer, and there was to be a concrete offer made once our budget had been confirmed, but he has decided to go north, which is totally understandable.”
Money
Due to Charles-Cook being aged under 24 and the Gills wanting to keep him, it’s possible the club would be due some compensation from Ross County.
The compensation fee would not be as large as it would be if he was joining another English club, but a payment of sorts is still possible.
With the Gills unable to put concrete offers to players right now, they are running out of time to keep those out of contract that they want to stay on.
Ehmer has been heavily linked with a move to Bristol Rovers, but Raynor told KentSportsNews that “he was in the office last week and told us that there had been interest, but nothing else”.