COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal insists he is desperate to keep hold of his talented players when the transfer window reopens next month.

The U’s boss has stressed he does not envisage losing any of his promotion-chasing squad but admits the club have been working hard behind the scenes on potential transfer targets.

McGreal is reluctant to see any of his key players depart in the forthcoming window but hinted that fringe players could move on from the JobServe Community Stadium, if it is right for all parties.

McGreal said: “I haven’t heard anything of our bigger players and I’m hoping that I won’t, because we have something going this year and we want to try and continue that.

“We’ve had good back-up from the under-23s and the only thing that might change is if one or two players aren’t happy not playing and may seek moves elsewhere or if the younger squad players might want to gain a bit of men’s football.

“That’s the only way we envisage players moving on.”

Colchester enjoyed some productive player recruitment in the last window, with summer signings Luke Norris, Harry Pell and Frank Nouble all making an impact.

The U’s have been linked with Yeovil Town winger Wes McDonald and Adil Nabi of Dundee this month but boss McGreal says they will think very carefully about any potential new faces coming in.

“If players come in, it means we’d have to lose players,” said McGreal.

“We won’t be looking to do anything at this minute.

“We’ve done our budget and spent it really wisely.

“The three or four players we brought in (in the summer) have been pivotal to what we’ve done at this minute.

“The boys have done particularly well and you don’t want to bring in players who might disrupt things.

“On the other side of the coin, big teams in the division will be adding to it and looking to bring in a little bit of freshness and something different, so we’ll have to wait and see.

“We’ve obviously been doing a lot of work behind the scenes on ifs, buts and maybes at the moment.

“It’ll be a patient one for us and one where we’ll be worrying about the games and getting them out of the way.”

Meanwhile, Sammie Szmodics’ superb strike against Exeter City has been nominated for the Sky Bet League Two Goal of the Month award for November.

Szmodics, who is up against Carlisle United’s Danny Grainger and George Maris of Cambridge United for the accolade, will learn whether or not he has won the award next Friday.