Ebbsfleet United have landed their first new face of the summer as Eastbourne Borough goalkeeper Tom Hadler is added to the ranks today.

The 6ft 4in Canterbury-born player is a product of the Gillingham Academy and he spent more than six years at Priestfield, having been handed his League One debut in April 2018 by Fleet’s director of football Steve Lovell.

The 23-year-old Hadler has plenty of experience at non-league level, too, having had loan spells with the likes of Folkestone Invicta, Tonbridge Angels, Gloucester City and Grays Athletic.

Last season, having progressed to be second-choice goalkeeper at Gillingham under Lovell’s management, he moved on to Eastbourne Borough where he immediately made the No.1 shirt his own, playing 22 games before a knee injury kept him out of action for six weeks.

As a youngster, Hadler also earned a call-up to England’s U16 squad in the 2014 Victory Shield.

The Fleet’s newest goalkeeper said of his move back to Kent, “It’s a really nice thing to want to be somewhere this aspirational and that’s the biggest draw here. The ambition that I’ve heard from those behind the scenes about the recruitment of players lends itself to what will be a very competitive team and I can’t wait now to get started.”

Read more from Tom on the Fleet website later this afternoon.

To sponsor Tom for the 2020/21 season or any of our playing squad, please email [email protected].