by Luke Cawdell

Andy Hessenthaler will hope to have a clearer picture of his squad for the forthcoming season on Friday.

The Gillingham manager is confident that left-back Joe Martin will complete the formalities on a contract tying him to the club permanently.

Hessenthaler also hopes to hear back from fellow out-of-contract players Kevin Maher and Chris Palmer.

Five players from last season’s squad were offered new terms at the end of the season and Hessenthaler wants an answer from the players one way or another.

Andy Barcham has already rejected an offer and looks set to be heading elsewhere while Adebayo Akinfenwa is still considering his options.

Hessenthaler said: “I’ve had talks with Joe Martin (pictured) and that looks promising. Nothing is confirmed yet but it looks good. That should be confirmed hopefully by Friday.

“I haven’t heard anything from Kevin Maher or Chris Palmer yet but I did say to them I wanted to know by the end of this week.

“We hope to have answers from them by tomorrow as well.”

Martin arrived at the Gills midway through last season to offer competition at left-back with John Nutter. He went onto make 17 appearances for the club.

Maher, 34, has played 69 times for the Gills in his second spell at the club, having previously had a brief seven-game loan stint in 2008.

Palmer started last season in great form and found the net five times before missing the second part of the season with a knee injury picked up in training. He only recovered at the end of the season.

What do you make of Hessenthalers' re-signings? Have your say below.