Steve Ball has revealed Colchester United have already received “firm interest” in their talented players.

But the U’s assistant manager, pictured below, believes the fact that they are attracting attention is a reflection of the strides that they have made as a squad, in the last 12 months.

John McGreal’s side ended their first season back in League Two on a high note, missing out on the play-offs by a single point after finishing the campaign on the back of a six-game unbeaten run.

The likes of Kurtis Guthrie, Craig Slater and Richard Brindley all shone for Colchester, while Brennan Dickenson – who is recovering from a serious knee injury - was the subject of a bid from rivals Ipswich Town in the January transfer window.

Ball told the Daily Gazette: “Lot of our players have attracted interest and that’s a positive, in some ways.

“It’s the first year in a while at Colchester where we’ve had a successful season, in terms of results and going for promotion.

“What comes with that is interest from elsewhere and that’s the way the game works.

“We have had interest and firm enquiries from clubs for a couple of our lads.

“I think that can only be a positive thing for our club, because it means that they have been doing well.

“I think it was a probability that Brennan would have left this summer had he not been injured and if that is the case, it means that John and I are doing our jobs right.

“I always maintain – and I’m sure John (McGreal) would echo this - that as a coach if the chairman accepts the deal like he has in the past for the likes of Alex Gilbey and George Moncur who have moved onto higher divisions, they are progressing their careers having done well for us.

“A lot of chairmen might say that they want their club’s players to kick on but not really mean it but Robbie (Cowling) genuinely does.”

n Colchester will be among the non seeds when the Carabao Cup first-round draw takes place on Friday at 1pm.

The draw for the EFL Cup will be streamed live from Bangkok, Thailand and the U’s are ball number 23 in the draw.