COLCHESTER United have told Theo Robinson they would like to extend his loan spell until the end of the season.

But any potential U’s return for the Southend United striker is now in the hands of chairman Robbie Cowling and director of football Tony Humes, according to head coach John McGreal.

Robinson is now back at the League One club, with Blues boss Sol Campbell stating earlier this week that they were yet to make a decision on the forward’s future.

But McGreal would like to keep the 30-year-old striker.

“Theo isn’t our player," said McGreal.

“He’s gone back to Southend this week but we’ve made our intentions clear.

“We had a chat with Theo before he went and it’s now in the hands of the chairman (Robbie Cowling) and (director of football) Tony Humes, to see where we’re going with that.

“There’s a list that we’ve compiled that we’ve been going through but we’ve let it be known to Theo that we’re interested, so we’ll see where we are with it.

“The good thing is the two-club rule, which means because he’s already played for us and Southend he can’t play for anyone else (this season) unless he drops out of the league, which I don’t think he wants to because he’s scored seven goals in 10 starts for us.

“That does favour us in a way and we made it clear to him that we’ll look to try and do something.”

Robinson has scored seven times for Colchester since joining them on loan from the Shrimpers in August.

He has made 21 League and cup appearances for the U’s and came on as a late substitute in their goalless draw at Stevenage on Saturday.

Robinson rejoined the Shrimpers in January 2017 and has scored 13 goals in 83 appearances during his second spell at Roots Hall.

The striker was previously on loan with Blues during the 2008/09 season and faces an uncertain future at the club with Tom Hopper, Stephen Humphrys, Brandon Goodship, Charlie Kelman, Emile Acquah and Simon Cox already pushing for selection in attack.

However, Cox has fallen out of favour under Sol Campbell.