London born Dean McDonald was aged 22 when he joined Rushden & Diamonds at the start of the 2008-09 season, having agreed a deal until the end of the season. He joined the club from Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Having played for Arsenal at under-16 level, he joined the youth set up at Ipswich Town before making his Championship debut for the "Tractor Boys" in August 2005.

After a brief period on loan at Hartlepool United in November that year, he joined Gillingham at the start of the 2006 / 2007 season scoring 6 times in 29 appearances. He moved to Scotland last year to join Inverness Caledonian Thistle, but a change of management at the Scottish Premier League club saw him limited to appearances off the bench and he subsequently had his contract cancelled by mutual consent.

Manager Garry Hill commented on the signing "Dean started his career at Arsenal before playing for the first team at Gillingham and IpswichTown and subsequently Inverness.He has pace in abundance and can play either in wide areas or up front and will no doubt cause our opposition problems on the park this coming season."