John Akinde: Gillingham sign Lincoln City striker for an undisclosed fee

John Akinde scored two goals on what proved to be his final Lincoln appearance in their 5-1 win over Bolton

Gillingham have signed Lincoln City forward John Akinde.

The 30-year-old has left Sincil Bank for an undisclosed fee a season-and-a-half after moving from Barnet for around £400,000.

He has scored 154 goals in 453 appearances in a career that began in November 2007.

Akinde scored eight goals this season, including a brace in his last appearance for Lincoln, a 5-1 win over Bolton earlier this month.

Gillingham have not disclosed the length of Akinde's deal as the forward reunites with boss Steve Evans, who coached him for a season while the striker was at Crawley Town in 2011.

Akinde has also had spells at Bristol City, Wycombe, Brentford, Bristol Rovers, Dagenham and Redbridge, Portsmouth, Alfreton and Barnet,

His spell at at Barnet was his longest at one club - he played 174 times in four seasons for the Bees, scoring 89 goals.

"In fairness to John he has showed a real desire to play for me again and as a manager that is very humbling," Evans told the club website.

"His goals record needs no introduction, he makes us stronger as a group and he knows how hard he must work for the team.

"I have enormous respect for Michael Appleton, Jez George and those above at Lincoln City; we have spoken many times in the last two weeks but all of us have shown a maturity and a real level of professionalism to get this deal over the line."

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