John McGreal says he wary of disrupting the harmony in his Colchester United squad by drafting in new signings when the transfer window opens next month.

The U’s head coach has not ruled out the prospect of new faces being brought in but is reluctant to ‘rock the boat’ in January – particularly with key players on the verge of returning from long-term injuries.

Striker Kurtis Guthrie returned to first-team training this week having managed less than an hour of first-team football since February.

And with Luke Prosser and Brennan Dickenson expected to make long-awaited comebacks in the New Year, boss McGreal says it will be a case of ‘continual assessment’ in the coming weeks as they consider their transfer options.

McGreal said: “We’ve haven’t really made decisions on who will be staying and going, in January.

“We’re just going to keep things as they are and we don’t want to rock the boat.

“The boys have been performing particularly well and we don’t want to go in there and do things that are going to upset what we’ve been doing of late.

“We’ve got a busy Christmas period coming up where we’ll need every single body that we’ve got in the first-team squad and we’re also need to lean on the under-23s, as well.

“We have to look at budgets and not getting through in the FA Cup has scuppered what we’d have liked to have done.

“We know what our budget is but we have players coming back now from long-term injuries.

“We’re not going to do things at this minute because we have a lot of boys at the football club who have been doing particularly well.

“It’s a case of continual assessment and there are a lot of games coming up.

“We won’t tempt fate – let’s take the games as they come and see what January brings.”

Dickenson, last season’s Player of the Year at Colchester, remains on course for a February return following his cruciate ligament damage.

“It’s still the aim to have Brennan back in the New Year,” said McGreal.

“His comeback was pencilled in for February and I think that’s where we’re still looking to try and get him in.”

Colchester return to action tomorrow after a two-week fixture break when they host fourth-placed Exeter City.

McGreal added: “We’ve made the most of it and used it as a bit of a winter break.

“We’ve reflected on what we’ve done really well and it’s ticked a lot of boxes.

“We’ve had a good break but it can also refresh you and the boys do look particularly fresh, at the minute.”