Gillingham boss Steve Evans isn’t losing sleep over a rebuff from Peterborough United for their attacking midfielder Ryan Broom.

The 24-year-old has been transfer listed by the Championship side after making just a handful of league starts for them last season.

Broom went on loan to Burton Albion last season and scored a last minute equaliser against the Gills in May after coming off the bench.

Posh want a fee for Broom and that rules the Gills out - they are currently under a transfer embargo which means they couldn’t pay for a player even if they could afford it.

Gillingham boss Evans say they spoke to Posh director of football Barry Fry “long and hard” in a bid to get a deal sorted, while also speaking to the player, but it looks like they will now be concentrating on other potential recruits.

“What Peterborough pay a player we can’t afford to pay,” Evans said. “It is very simple. Barry said we couldn’t afford him, Barry Fry is right.

“It is not for us (to decide), he is a Darren Ferguson player and they have to decide where Ryan is going to go, but I still have a good relationship with Posh.

“We would have loved to have done it but he is not the only right-sided player we are talking to, otherwise we would be quite foolish wouldn’t we? It doesn’t mean he is our no.1 option, or no.2, it doesn’t work like that.

“We have lost out on some financially and we can’t help that but finances aren’t always important to a young man making their way in the world, sometimes there is a balance about where they want to live, how they want to live, how dedicated they are to football and they might take a bit less, it’s how you sell the vision. Do they want to come and play for a management team that have been successful?”

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