COLCHESTER United have made a contract offer to goalkeeper Shamal George after he impressed during a trial.

The 22-year-old is a free agent after leaving newly-crowned Premier League champions Liverpool, earlier this summer.

George has been training with Colchester in pre-season and featured in each of their friendlies, against Ipswich Town and Gillingham.

And the 6ft 3in keeper has done enough to show the U's that he is a player they want to sign, on a permanent basis.

U's head coach Steve Ball said: "We've put an offer to Shamal and he's at the stage now where he's discussing it with his agent.

"It's obviously a big move for him location-wise so he's just making sure that everything's right.

"I've been really impressed with him.

"He's got some really lovely attributes.

"His size is the obvious one, he's a good shot stopper, he's good with his feet and I think he's one that we can really look to develop.

"I'm really hoping that he signs."

George spent 13 years at Liverpool, having joined them as a nine-year-old back in 2007.

He already has experience of playing in League Two, having played seven times for Carlisle United on loan during the 2017-18 season.

The shot-stopper has also had loan spells at Tranmere Rovers and Marine AFC and is now looking for a permanent switch, following his exit from Liverpool.

The U's are on the lookout for a new goalkeeper to compete with Dean Gerken and youngster Callum Coulter, following Ethan Ross's departure to Lincoln City, last month.

Colchester were beaten in their two friendlies against Ipswich Town on Tuesday night, losing 4-0 and 1-0.

"There were a few learning bits in the first game but I thought the second game was really positive," said Ball.

"I thought we were a little bit sloppy in possession in the first game.

"That's a little normal in pre-season but I still want to iron them out and it's important that we don't give away the ball in cheap areas, against a really good side like that, because they're going to hurt you.

"I think all of the goals in the first game were really avoidable.

"They were individual mistakes that led to the goals and they need to be worked on, which we will.

"I still thought there were a couple of nice moments in the first game where we stamped a bit of quality on it but they were a lot stronger than us, as the game wore on.

"What was really good from a coaching perspective was that Team B so to speak were actively studying that game and you can go into the team talk for that game in a little more detail, because we've seen how they've played.

"I saw Ipswich a few times last season and Paul (Lambert) would be the first to say that he's adapted the style a bit, from being a possession team to going a bit more direct and it showed (on Tuesday night) that they're a quality team who pass the ball.

"I thought a lot of lessons were learnt in the second game from the first one and I thought we more than held our own.

"We had 24 players involved in total and it was nothing but a good exercise with some testing situations for our young and experienced players."