Colchester United want to bring in new faces as quickly as possible as they begin to shape their squad for a League Two challenge.

And the U’s have targeted “six or seven” players as they begin their bid to immediately bounce back from their relegation from the third tier.

New Colchester first-team coach John McGreal and director of football Tony Humes have identified the players they want to bring to the Weston Homes Community Stadium, for the 2016-17 campaign.

U’s assistant manager Steve Ball says they want to bring in new faces in the early part of the summer, with plenty of comings and goings expected at the club over the coming weeks.

Ball said: “We’ve had several meetings with our recruitment team over the past week and we’re targeting about six or seven players that we want to go and get in.

“We’ll work hard to do that but it’s obviously not that easy – there will be lots of negotiation and talk but that’s the plan.

“The plan is for things to move quickly and we want to get our business done, ASAP.

“It won’t be that easy but we’re prepared to put in all of the hours needed to inject some new blood into a good foundation, because there are some good players here.

“It’s been a disappointing season but we know that if we can get that balance right next year with the new additions, I think we’ll be fine.

“We have a very busy summer ahead of us but we’re going to be positive about it.

“I think we all know that we have to look at our recruitment and address some issues out there.

“We’ll know a lot more in the next few weeks but I think we have to improve and add to the squad for sure, next year.

“We can’t be now thinking it’s summertime off and come back in July.

“John is very driven to turn it around and we’re both going to work really hard at that.”

McGreal and Ball met Colchester’s players for an end-of-season debrief yesterday and will this week make decisions on which players they would like to retain for next season.

The likes of Joe Edwards, Tom Eastman, Alex Gilbey and Nicky Shorey will all see their current deals expire, this summer.

Ball added: “Players are out of contract and we’ll be having meetings about that.

“There are still on-going discussions on players staying or going but John will have the final say on that with Tony (Humes), so that will take place in the coming days.”