Colchester United had to take a stance in their attempts to keep Kane Vincent-Young at the club, according to boss John McGreal.

The 22-year-old finally put pen to paper on a new two-year contract with the U’s on Monday, after weeks of speculation regarding his future.

Vincent-Young, whose previous deal expired earlier this summer, was linked with higher-placed clubs and spent a week training with Championship outfit Ipswich Town.

It had looked for a time as though the former Spurs youngster might leave the JobServe Community Stadium, after he missed Colchester’s opening League Two game of the season at Notts County last weekend.

But he put pen to paper on new terms 48 hours later and U’s head coach McGreal is glad to have secured the services of the talented defender.

He said: “It’s fantastic news, with it being two years with an option of another.

“I never really felt like we were going to lose Kane.

“I just felt like we had to make a stance in what we had to do, with the window closing (yesterday).

“Kane’s been here now (under McGreal) for two years and he gives us that other option – he can play left-back or left wing-back or he can play right-back or right wing-back.

“It’s a body that we felt that this squad needed, not only because he can play in the wing-back roles but also because he can go across to the right-hand side and pick that up quite easily, as well.

“We feel as though we have a dual player, with him signing.

“You have to earn your stripes to play in any team and that’s what Kane has to do but we’re delighted that he’s signed and we’re really pleased.”

“I remember sitting here supporting Mika, giving him a lot of backing on his performances last season when he was getting questioned.

“All of a sudden, we bring in two centre-forwards and the press start asking why Mika isn’t playing!

“We wanted to strengthen in that area and we feel as though we have three different players, in Mika, Frank Nouble and Luke Norris.

“We know what Mika is about, we know what Frank’s about and we need to get to know what Luke is about, too.

“We went with the personnel last weekend that got us a fantastic point.

“But we’ll need these three players right the way through the season."