COLCHESTER United have been linked with a swoop for Crawley Town forward Tom Nichols.

Nichols, who is under contract at Crawley until the summer of 2023, looks set to leave the Red Devils when the transfer window opens next month.

And the U's are understood to have made an offer to bring him to the JobServe Community Stadium, according to reports.

The 29-year-old forward, who has scored 23 goals in 96 starts for Crawley since joining them from Bristol Rovers in 2020, has been omitted from the Crawley squad for their past two games after they received serious interest from another club, believed to be Colchester.

The U's are on the lookout for new faces to bolster their squad, as they bid to pull away from League Two relegation danger.

Crawley boss Matt Etherington, speaking to the club's media ahead of his side's clash with Hartlepool United last week, said: “That's the reason Tom wasn’t involved last weekend and he won’t be involved on Friday night.

"It’s an ongoing situation but I am here to concentrate on making the players I do have available as good as they can be and a team going out there being as good as they can be as well.

"Nico still trains with us and he's a very good player, especially at this level, so he's going to be missed.

"But thankfully and luckily on Simon (Davies) and my part, we have James Balagizi coming back so it kind of softens the blow a little bit.

"But Nico has been a really good player for this football club for a long time.

"I realise that and he's a really good lad, the players realise that but sometimes these things happen in football and you just have to move on.

"If this does eventually happen, I wish him nothing but the best."

Nichols started his career at Exeter City, where he scored 32 goals in 64 league starts before leaving to join Peterborough United in February, 2016.

The Taunton-born forward made 50 league appearances for Posh, scoring 11 goals but left after little more than 18 months to sign for Bristol Rovers.

Nichols spent three years with the Gas, making more than 100 league and cup appearances, before joining Crawley in September, 2020.

He has become a firm favourite with Crawley fans during his time at the Broadfield Stadium and has hit the net four times in 23 appearances for the club so far, this season.

Nichols featured against Colchester in the 2-2 draw between the two clubs at the JobServe Community Stadium, in October.