Gillingham boss Steve Evans has confirmed he spoke to former Blues skipper Luke Chambers prior to the 35-year-old signing for Colchester United last week and says he has also talked to another released Town player this summer.
Chambers joined his close friend Cole Skuse in signing a two-year deal at the JobServe Stadium last Thursday.
League One Gillingham had also been linked and Evans confirmed that he was interested in taking the centre-half to the Priestfield Stadium.
"I met Luke Chambers several times, I think he’d have been really good for us,” Evans told the Kent Messenger.
"He chose Colchester for a variance of reasons and the one thing about Luke, we were dead straight with each other all the way down the line.
"I was straight about finance, he knew what we put to him [and] there couldn’t be any movement in it.
"He opened himself up to us and to others who could produce better finance and therefore he had different options, not just Colchester.
"And I’m not saying he chose Colchester only for finance, I think geography plays a part as well.
"We spoke to two players that have been at Ipswich, we didn’t speak to any more than that simply because they wouldn’t have been affordable.”
Former Blues midfielder Alan Judge is likely to have been the other Town player to have held talks with Evans, while Colchester are also understood to be keen on the former Republic of Ireland international.
Elsewhere, Preston striker Jayden Stockley, 27, who was linked with a move to the Blues among plenty of other clubs, is reportedly set to join Charlton, where he was on loan in the second half of last season.