Midfielder Olly Lee has made his move to Gillingham a permanent one after three successful loan spells at the club.

The 29-year-old, who has enjoyed three previous loan spells at MEMS Priestfield Stadium, has this time agreed a permanent move following his departure from Heart of Midlothian after three years in Scotland.

Lee, the son of former England and Newcastle midfielder Rob, made 25 appearances for the Gills last season, scoring five times. He returned to Kent for a second successive season in January having featured 34 times the season before, netting six times before the 2019-20 campaign was curtailed early due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Olly has enjoyed spells at Birmingham and Plymouth followed before he joined Luton where he was part of the team that won promotion from League Two during the 2017-18 season.

In July 2018 he signed for Hearts, making 58 appearances and scoring nine goals in total. 

The midfielder will report for pre-season training, with the rest of his Gills teammates, in a few weeks’ time.

On getting the deal completed, the manager said:

“Olly has played an integral part in a great run of form the team delivered over the last two seasons.

“He has taken his time to think everything through and has met up with several EFL 1 managers who were keen to sign him; at times last season he was simply outstanding.

“He went away late last week with his young family for a few days to discuss his various options and I was delighted when he rang me to say he would love to come back to us on a permanent basis.

“We have talked for hours about football in these last few weeks, he is without doubt an excellent addition to the squad we are working really hard to put together.”

Picture supplied by Gillingham Football Club.