Impressive Eccles joins Gills on loan
COVENTRY City midfielder Josh Eccles has joined Gillingham on loan.
The 20-year-old impressed Gills’ boss Steve Evans on Tuesday night when he played in the Carabao Cup at Priestfield Stadium, and has now joined the League One side until the end of the 2020/21 season.
The Sky Blues Academy graduate joins at a time when the club are short in midfield due to injuries, the latest coming in the midweek cup tie when Stuart O’keefe suffered a broken leg during a challenge with Amadou Bakayoko.
Evans singled out Eccles’ performance in his post-match interview on Tuesday evening as particularly impressive, and was delighted to clinch his signature with other clubs set to beat Gills to the chase.
He said: “Given the loss of two quality central midfielders in the last few days we had to move quickly.
“I knew from the lad’s agent that young Josh was going out on loan, so I had to act fast.
“He was very impressive here on Tuesday night. He has a brilliant range of passing, physically strong and lots of energy and it fits with our strategy to have a youthful team.
“Given the interest in the lad at our level I am delighted he has agreed to join us. Our supporters will like this kid very much. I’m sure those that watched our game on Tuesday will have noted his performance.
“I am thankful to Mark Robins and Coventry City for all their help.
“We are still dreadfully short of players but we are trying to stay focused and only bring in lads that can help us.”
Eccles said: “It was a quick process; I didn’t have a second thought, I knew nothing about it on Tuesday!
“Everybody is pretty new to me so I am looking forward to meeting everyone; this is my first loan spell so I’m looking forward to it. I like to sit in and get the ball rolling, keeping it on the floor and start attacks.”
Eccles made 11 appearances for the Sky Blues last season in all competitions and made his first appearance this campaign when he played the full 90 minutes of Tuesday’s Carabao Cup tie at Gillingham.
He has signed in time to be eligible for selection ahead of Saturday’s league fixture at Wigan.