Gillingham chairman Paul Scally has confirmed 15 year-old Lee Freeman is close to signing for Arsenal.

"We have agreed in principal a deal for Luke to go to Arsenal," said Scally. "We are still waiting on some of the finer details to be concluded but we are confident that it will happen very soon.

"It is a shame for Gillingham to lose a special talent such as Luke but we cannot stand in the way of such a fantastic opportunity.

"Arsenal have gone about their business in a fair and commendable way so it was a pleasure to do the deal with them.

"They are a fantastic club and I know that they are the right ones to take Luke on and make him into a Premiership player."

Freeman became the youngest player to feature in the FA Cup when he appeared as a late substitute for the cash-strapped Coca-Cola League One strugglers against Barnet in the first round back in November.