Colchester United News: With January’s transfer window underway, Danny Cowley’s playoff chasing Colchester United side will undoubtedly be on the hunt for reinforcements across the squad if they aim to escape League Two after nine consecutive seasons at this level.
However, these upgrades won’t be easy to come by given owner Robbie Cowling’s reduced spending capacity allocated this campaign, as he continues to search for a suitable new ownership group to takeover, reportedly permitting no funds this window, leaving Colchester to be “forced to sell to buy”.
With all that aside, coming from someone who has watched ninety percent of their league games this campaign, here are the three positions I believe the recruitment team should be targeting this January, alongside a few players who could potentially be heading out the exit door.
Despite summer signings Jack Tucker and Harvey Araujo forming a formidable partnership together in recent weeks, one injury to either could instantly hamper any playoff hopes, as a result of veteran centre-backs Tom Flanagan and Jack Baldwin as well as youth prospect Samuel Kuffour Jr. remaining on the injury list for the foreseeable future.
To aid this injury crisis at the back, the U’s opted to recall Frankie Terry from local National League side Braintree Town, however, has featured as an understudy for Ellis Iandolo in the left-back position getting the nod ahead of frozen out loanee Josh Powell, leaving space for a new addition.
I’m unsure on the reliability of the source, but reports suggested a few weeks ago that Colchester United held firm interest in Chelsea youngster Harrison Murray-Campbell and at nineteen-years of age, it is likely this calibre of player that will be targeted, a youth player on a low-risk loan, expected to feature on the bench for their first or second taste of men’s football.
Once again, a partnership had settled in recent weeks in the midfield position, with Teddy Bishop and Arthur Read gelling competently, despite neither being particularly defensive minded in style of play, yet depth in the ranks midfield ranks remain incredibly thin, as right-back Rob Hunt has been dragged into an unnatural role to cover.
An obvious lack of defensive capability has left many oppositions to exploit this midfield gap, leading to points dropped.
Ben Perry was widely regarded as the so called “Jamie McDonnell replacement”, a CDM who significantly improved a lacklustre Colchester side into playoff contention last campaign, but suffered an ACL injury in an away fixture against Shrewsbury back in August, whilst second-choice Dominic Gape has encountered numerous injury difficulties, struggling to regain full fitness together with underwhelming performances off the bench so far this season.
Youngsters Ronnie Harvey, Milton Oni and Max Jolliffe could all be gunning for taking this position, however loan spells away seem likely, as the first two names mentioned currently find themselves injured.
Again, I would expect a signing in this area to be either a youth loan from a Premier League academy, or a frozen-out senior player at League One level, not much likelihood of recruiting permanently.
With Cowley rarely reverting from the 4-2-3-1 formation, the creative spark from the CAM role has been crucial throughout the development of play for attacking chances this season, with maestro Jack Payne cementing his place in the lineup week-in-week-out.
By contrast however, small injury issues since the start of the season have left (in particularly November and December) strikers Samson Tovide or Micah Mbick to cover the position, limiting their strengths going forward in a further back role.
Jaden Williams off-the-bench covered this role on occasions, minimally influencing the course of play due to lack of experience in this role. All three mentioned have fundamentally lacked the creativity and knowledge of link-up play compared to Payne, and as much as I’d love him to, he can’t play 90 minutes every week, leaving a great opportunity for a young loanee to get small flashes off the bench.
There’s been concerns on social media surrounding the loan status of Charlton’s Micah Mbick, who’s been a breath of fresh air in front of goal, however at the time of writing nothing concrete has emerged. In the event of a recall, a powerhouse up-front will be the number one priority for Danny Cowley, to compete with Samson Tovide and Will Goodwin.
Interest will probably be swirling around wingers Kyreece Lisbie and Owura Edwards, perhaps Edwards especially as only six months remain on his contract, so eyes will be on whether another pacey winger will be required.
Things haven’t worked out for Jack Baldwin at Colchester, joining as the backup option for the central defensive positions, providing another experienced figure in a relatively young squad, but after making just three appearances, injuries have prevented any further minutes, and with just sixth months left on his contract termination could be on the cards to free up extra wages.
The only area of the pitch with an outstanding range of depth is both wings, with six contracted wingers on the books (Anderson, Lisbie, Edwards, Akande, Gordon and Kaion Lisbie), alongside Payne and Tovide who could easily slot into the wide positions, leaving the latter of the five frozen out of game time completely.
Since picking up a serious three-month injury in September, Akande has returned to the Under 21-side but hasn’t broken back into the matchday squad of eighteen, leading to me wondering whether a loan to a fellow League Two or National League side would do both parties a favour for the upcoming months.
Gordon has floated around the matchday squad for a few months now, failing to make any form of impact across many chances on and off the bench, and could follow a similar path as mentioned above, but it’s likely down to whichever player Cowley prefers for the run in.
Albeit there is an existing midfielder crisis, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Gape’s contract (much like as mentioned with Baldwin) being cut short by six months to free additional wages for yet another player who cannot remain fit for numerous matches at a time.
Perhaps I’m being too harsh, but in similar fashion to Alex Woodyard last January, an early contract termination could benefit both parties, finding a suitable new club for not only the rest of this season, but future seasons, as once youngsters Ronnie Harvey and Milton Oni return, plus a likely new midfield addition, gam-time seems impossible for him.
