Mansfield Town sell Oli Hawkins to rivals Gillingham

Mansfield Town's Oli Hawkins has joined Gillingham for an undisclosed fee.

The 30-year-old – whose contract at One Call Stadium was set to expire at the end of this season – played 72 times for the Stags, scoring 12 goals, since signing in June 2021.

Manager Nigel Clough said: “We’re sad to see Oli go, but he has a young family and is going back down south. The transfer is therefore as much for personal reasons as anything else.

“I think he’s been absolutely brilliant for us in the past 18 months. I think the offer Gillingham have made him was too good to turn down.

“In an ideal world, we’d have liked him to stay and Hawks said that he would have loved to stay here but with all factors considered, it was very difficult for him not to go.

“From our perspective, there’s a desire to go younger with the squad. So there’s a range of factors that come into the transfer.”

He added: “I think it’s good business for the club and we’re hopefully getting a couple of defenders in soon.”

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