Wayne Brown believes Colchester United’s academy can compete with Premier League clubs in attracting promising young footballers.

Brown feels the influx of home-grown players to the U’s first team over recent seasons is helping them snare some top up-and-coming talent to Florence Park.

A total of five academy products featured in Colchester’s FA Cup triumph over Wealdstone last weekend, with a further five unused substitutes.

U’s under-18 coach Brown said: “The great thing for us at Colchester is the pathway that we can offer young players.

“We’ve got youngsters in the building now who can go to big clubs like West Ham and Tottenham but say they have a better opportunity to play at Colchester.

“We had five players who came through the youth system involved in the game at Wealdstone.

“I don’t think many other league teams would have been able to say that in the FA Cup.

“We also have the facilities now – it’s not like the old days when we were training at the university and other places. They are now coming to a proper facility to improve as individuals.” Danny Boness is the latest talented teenager to swap a Premier League academy for the U’s.

The goalkeeper left West Ham to sign a deal with Colchester until the end of the season.

Boness, who played in the under-18s’ 1-1 draw with Brentford last weekend, will attempt to secure a professional contract with the U’s along with fellow keeper Callum Robinson.

“We’ve had Callum as our only keeper this season and we need competition for places.,” added Brown.

“Danny will be with us for the rest of the season and make no bones about it, like Callum he’s there to try and earn a professional development contract at the football club.

“When you move clubs like Danny has, the desire to come to Colchester has got to come from the individual and the player’s parents and advisors and also the club’s he’s coming from, in this case West Ham.”