Luke Rooney has agreed to sign for Swindon Town on a two and a half year deal.

The Gillingham forward was granted permission to speak with Swindon on Monday, after an agreement between the clubs was reached. He met manager Paolo Di Canio on Tuesday to thrash out a deal.

Rooney, 21, will move for an undisclosed fee to put an end to the protracted speculation over a possible move to the County Ground.

He was linked with a move to Swindon soon after contract talks between the player and Gillingham had broken down.

Gills boss Andy Hessenthaler was reluctant to see the player move on, but felt it was best for the club, as Rooney was out of contract in the summer and he was unwilling to accept the new terms offered to him at Priestfield.

Hessenthaler said: "He is a talent. He can be a handful on the training ground and he has an edge about him, which is a nice edge at times, and you need to have that edge with his confidence.

"But I don't see him in my team week in, week out. He had a good spell in the team but then when the contract talks broke down we decided to make that stance."

Rooney was frozen out of the Gills team and only recently returned to first team action, with appearances off the substitutes' bench.

Swindon admitted their interest in Rooney on the eve of Gills' FA Cup match with Stoke, much to the displeasure of Hessenthaler and club chairman Paul Scally.

Rooney was promoted to Gills' first team following a successful scholarship at the club and he went onto make 61 first team appearances and scoring six goals.

His promise prompted Gills to offer him an extended deal in November. They did the same with Jack Payne, but while one signed the other didn't and that was the beginning of the end for Rooney.

"We couldn't agree a deal and we would have had to wait for a tribunal in the summer," said Hessenthaler.

"The chairman has agreed a deal now and it's the right business as far as I am concerned, for a player who has expressed that he wasn't going to sign and so we needed to react to it. The chairman has done that.

"It's unfortunate that it's against one of our competitors but that's football."

Luke Rooney waves to the Gills fans on his final appearance at Priestfield in the FA Cup game against Stoke. Picture: Barry Goodwin