Exclusive: Gillingham set to beat Wigan Athletic & Salford City to 12-goal striker as transfer fee agreed | OneFootball

Gareth Ainsworth is closing in on adding a new marksman to his squad

League Two outfit Gillingham are on the verge of completing a significant transfer raid for a brand new striker, Football League World has been exclusively informed.

The Kent outfit currently sit 12th in the League Two standings with 26 matches played, and are chasing the fourth tier play-off spots - albeit they are seven points adrift of the final place with 20 games still to play.

Gareth Ainsworth has seen his strikers struggle to score on a regular basis, with midfielders Bradley Dack and Armani Little leading the goalscorer charts in League Two with six and five respectively - Josh Andrews is the Gills' best-scoring striker with three.

It is a position that Ainsworth needed some bolstering this month, and Gillingham are now closing in on what has appeared to be their top target all along.

Gillingham set for transfer breakthrough in pursuit of Northern Ireland international Ronan Hale

FLW understands that Gillingham have finally made a breakthrough in their pursuit of Northern Irish striker Ronan Hale, with a transfer fee agreed with Ross County for the 27-year-old's services.

It was reported on January 11 by the Daily Record (10:10am) that Hale had handed in a transfer request to the Scottish second tier outfit, having seen a bid worth up to £200,000 from the Gills turned down for his services.

But with the closing of the transfer window looming on February 2, the funds that Ross County needed to be presented with have come to fruition at the Priestfield Stadium, with Gillingham finally making an offer that is deemed acceptable north of the border.

Hale will now head down south to agree personal terms with the Gills and undergo a medical to become Ainsworth's second signing of the month, with Newport County midfielder Cameron Antwi already arriving for an undisclosed fee.

Belfast-born Hale - who made his senior Northern Ireland debut against Iceland in June 2025 - joined Birmingham City's academy from Crusaders in 2016 but failed to make an appearance for Blues at senior level, before continuing his development back across the Irish Sea with clubs such as St Patrick's Athletic, Larne and Cliftonville.

A move to Ross County developed in 2024, where he scored 12 times in the Scottish Premiership last season as the Staggies were relegated from the top flight, and with a further 12 goals in all competitions so far in 2025-26, Hale has found himself in high demand.

The Belfast Telegraph's Steven Beacom claimed that the likes of Wigan Athletic of League One and League Two promotion-chasers Salford City were also keen on Hale earlier in January, but it is Gillingham who are set to win out in the battle for the forward's services with less than a week to go of the transfer window.