MK Dons have fought off plenty of competition to recruit promising centre-back Jack Tucker on a long-term deal after he decided to run down his contract at Gillingham.
The 22-year-old, who was named in LFE’s The 11 back in December 2017, will join once his current deal expires at the end of the month, with the Gills being due compensation.
Tucker made his senior bow as a second-year apprentice in October 2017 and has gone on to play 137 times in total for his boyhood club, winning the Gills’ Young Player of the Season award for three successive seasons.
“I’m delighted,” Tucker told MK Dons’ website. “I definitely feel like MK Dons is the right place for me to develop my career further.
“I met with the Head Coach and Liam Sweeting and they sold the Club to me, which is impressive in itself. They showed real enthusiasm to bring me here and that, along with the ideas they had for me, made me really want to come here.
“I followed how MK Dons did at the end of last season and the Club had an impressive campaign. I have played MK Dons a few times and I know how tough they make it for other teams so I’m looking forward to being on the right side of that from now on.”
The talented defender also impressed off the pitch from a young age, embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Sri Lanka in September 2017 to support Gillingham’s official charity ‘Take Heart Mercy Mission’, which aims to save the lives of children with life-threatening heart defects.
Sporting Director Liam Sweeting said: “Jack is an excellent signing for the Football Club and someone we have been keen to bring here for a long time.
“He is, first and foremost, an excellent professional and has the type of characteristics we look for to represent MK Dons. On the pitch, he is another player we feel has huge potential to develop further within our culture, under Liam’s guidance and within our style of play.
“I look forward to helping him settle in Milton Keynes and seeing him at Stadium MK soon.”
Head Coach Liam Manning added: “Jack is somebody who we have been after for some time and we are delighted to have been able to bring him to the Football Club.
“He has the attributes, physically and technically, that what we want from a player in his position and we saw that first-hand when he played in a midfield role against us in January. His personality is also a perfect fit for the culture we continue to establish here at the Club.”
