CALLUM Harriott is already looking forward to returning to his former club after Colchester United were handed a trip to play Reading in the Carabao Cup.

The U’s will head to the Madejski Stadium next month to take on the Royals in the first round of this season’s competition, following this morning’s draw.

The tie will mean a return for Harriott to Reading, where he spent three years and made 30 appearances between 2016 and 2019.

The 26-year-old winger still has friends at the Championship outfit and says he is already relishing the prospect of returning to one of his old clubs.

Harriott said: “I’m looking forward to it already!

“Even the other day, I went out to eat with a few of my friends from my time at Reading.

“I had it in the back of my mind, I guarantee you it’s going to be Reading that we get!

“I’ve been down at my house in Reading for the past few weeks as well taking some things back to my other place and sure enough, we get Reading!

“They’re a really good club and it’s obviously a top team in the Championship with the facilities that they have.

“I made a lot of good friends while I was at the club.

“I joined Reading in 2016, when Jaap Stam was the manager.

“I was playing and really enjoying it but then I picked up a little injury along the way.

“I worked my way back fit and got myself back in the team and I really enjoyed my time down there.

“I just felt that for me, it was time to explore and see what was out there at the time when my deal was finished.

“I signed for the mighty U’s and now we’ve got Reading!”

Harriott played his part in Colchester’s magnificent run in last season’s Carabao Cup, which saw them reach the quarter-finals in the competition for only the second time in their history and beat Premier League opposition, along the way.

“We had some good games in the competition last year and it was a good thing to play against the Premier League teams,” added Harriott.

“We felt that we were in a position to beat them.

“We did very well and we did the club proud.

“The main thing for me is to play well for Colchester and to do my best for my team and hope we can get the win.

“We’ve done it before with these cup runs against some good teams so we’ll be going there looking to get a win.”