Gillingham can have top-three ambitions after Bradley Dack news but big question mark remains: View | OneFootball

Bradley Dack is back at Priestfield, and it looks like Gillingham have a game-changing signing – if he can remain fit.

Highlights

Gillingham have re-signed Bradley Dack, with one of the most talented players the Kent club has seen in a generation returning to ME7 in a bid to help fire the club back up to League One.

Dack's return to Priestfield was announced on Thursday evening, ending a couple of weeks of rampant speculation and debate online over whether Dack would be prepared to drop two divisions to come "home" to his first league club, and whether the club would be prepared to take the gamble of re-signing a player who has had significant injury problems since leaving Priestfield.

But all the speculation has been laid to rest with the club's official announcement of Dack's signing, with the former Gills trainee putting pen to paper to seal his return to the club where he started his EFL career.

Bradley Dack adds Championship quality to Gillingham's strikeforce

Dack's arrival at Priestfield brings a higher calibre of player to the club, with the former Blackburn Rovers Player of the Year coming "home" to Priestfield to help fire them to promotion.

His signing adds another weapon for manager Mark Bonner's attacking arsenal, with Dack joining attacking summer signings Elliott Nevitt, Jack Nolan, Aaron Rowe, Jacob Wakeling and Marcus Wyllie, as well as last January's striker signing Josh Andrews.

When fit and on form, there are few, if any, forwards in League Two with Dack's ability to create and score goals. In Paul Mullin, Wrexham had a talismanic front man whose playing ability far outshone the level he was playing at last season. It could potentially be a similar story for Dack and Gillingham.

Bradley Dack will have to win over a few doubters

Few will question the quality and ability that Dack brings back to Gillingham. But the big question mark will be over his fitness.

Dack suffered cruciate knee ligament injuries to both knees while at Blackburn, and underwent separate surgeries to repair both. Prior to those injuries, Dack was starting to attract attention from Premier League sides, with his ability to score and create goals marking him out as a dual-threat forward at Championship level.

But, following his second surgery, Dack departed Blackburn for Sunderland, where he struggled to hold down a first-team place. He was released at the end of last season, and entered this summer as a free agent.

He arrives at the club injury-free, but lacking in match fitness. It will likely take a few weeks to get him fully ready for the cut and thrust of League Two football. But once he's at match fitness, Bonner will have a dangerous attacking weapon to throw into his lineup.

Mark Bonner says Bradley Dack is a gamble worth taking

Comments from Dack and Bonner both suggest that the process that brought Dack back to Priestfield was one that took several weeks, as the club did its due diligence and the two parties came to terms on a contract that suits both club and player.

And, based on Bonner's comments, the club have done as much as they can to remove the element of risk from the deal – and whatever risk remained was worth taking to secure a player of Dack's quality.

"We're protected against the risks, firstly," Bonner told KentOnline. "Secondly, that is a risk worth taking because if he didn't have those problems he wouldn't be coming here, he wouldn't be coming back, and he wouldn't be playing at this level."

Bonner went on to tell the BBC: "We know that he's had injury problems in the past, but when he is fit and available he gives us one hell of an option to help us win games at this level. When I look in his eyes I see someone desperate to be here and to win."

Bradley Dack signing shows that Gillingham mean business in 2024/25

It means that, for a side that struggled to score goals last season, Gillingham now have a plethora of attacking options at their disposal. But the signing of Dack says much more about how Gillingham, and owner Brad Galinson, views the 2024/25 League Two season.

While some of the club's summer signings like Nevitt, Nolan, Rowe and Armani Little, are players who have been signed to be a part of the Gills side for several years to come, and others, like Wyllie, have clearly been signed for their potential, Dack's signing signals a clear intent for 2024/25 season.

His arrival on a one-year deal says one thing: Gillingham are going hell for leather for automatic promotion THIS season. They've strengthened where they needed to, they've changed their playing style to be more ruthless in attack, and now, with a marquee signing who brings Championship quality goalscoring and creativity to the club, Gillingham look geared up for a serious push for a top-three finish.

Will the gamble pay off and the question mark over Dack's fitness be raised? We'll find out over the next 45 league games.