Gillingham have completed the signing of striker Adam Birchall from Dover.

The striker, who netted 45 goals for the Blue Square Bet South club last season, has signed a three year contract at Priestfield.

Three clubs were chasing Maidstone-based Birchall and the Gills were joined by League 2 rivals AFC Wimbledon and Swindon Town, who both had bids accepted, in the hunt for the forward.

Gillingham’s first bid for Birchall on Friday was rejected but an improved offer was enough for Dover chairman Jim Parmenter to let boss Andy Hessenthaler and chairman Paul Scally offer the player a deal.

An undisclosed fee has been agreed between the two sides.

Birchall started his career as a youngster at Arsenal and he picked up Football League experience at Wycombe, Mansfield and Barnet.

He left Barnet for Dover in the summer of 2009 where he joined Hessenthaler, who was then boss at Crabble.

Birchall enjoyed a prolific time at Dover, netting over 40 times for them last season, including the winning goals in the FA Cup fixture at Priestfield.

He becomes the club’s eighth new signing of the summer and fourth for a transfer fee, following the earlier arrivals of Kedwell and Peterborough pair Chris Whelpdale and Charlie Lee for undisclosed fees.

Earlier on Tuesday both AFC Wimbledon and Swindon accepted that Birchall was heading elsewhere.

On Sunday the striker met Swindon boss Paolo Di Canio for talks but the Italian boss wasn’t willing to wait for an answer.

Di Canio told the Swindon Advertiser: “I can wait a few days for Lionel Messi but not for this kind of player.

“I’m not saying that he is not a good player, he has scored lots of goals in the Conference South and it would have been nice if he was one of the four or five strikers we have here, but it is not a problem.”

On Monday Birchall went to AFC Wimbledon for a medical but by Tuesday they realised that there was only one place the striker was heading for.

Wimbledon were looking for a new striker after losing the services of their captain and last season’s leading scorer Danny Kedwell. The Gillingham-born striker moved to Priestfield at the start of July.

Wimbledon boss Terry Brown said: “We are disappointed but perfectly understand that, with a child on the way, one reason is that there is a major attraction of being able to stay near home.

“We have made him the biggest offer in our short history and it wasn’t for the want of trying that he has decided to go elsewhere.”