COLCHESTER United head coach John McGreal believes the scrapping of the loan window can work to their advantage this season.

Clubs have until next Wednesday to bring in new players before this summer’s transfer window and unlike previous years, will now not be able to rely on loan signings to bolster their squad.

McGreal has said there is a chance that Colchester could bring in new faces – possibly loanees – prior to next week’s transfer deadline.

But the U’s boss is confident the club have strong enough resources within their academy to deal with the absence of a loan window, in the months to follow.

McGreal said: “We can hopefully use the scrapping of the loan window to our advantage.

“We’ve got a strong under-21 squad and a strong under-18s and within our first-team squad, we have boys who are still only 20 and 21 years of age.

“We’ve got an abundance of talent and that should stand us in a bit of favour as the season goes along, because we will pick up injuries – that’s just the norm playing a 46-game season plus the cup games.

“We’ve got that to tap into and I think we should benefit from that.”

McGreal says there is a chance that new players could come in prior to the window closing.

Colchester added six new senior signings to their squad this summer but more fresh faces could follow, in the coming days.

“We’re still looking, possibly at loans,” he said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two new faces come in.

“Equally, I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t any, given the size of our squad.

“Everyone’s in the same boat and you’ve got to maximise what you’ve got, because it goes window to window.

“It’s not as if you can bring in an emergency loan.

“Every club is going to be in a similar position to ourselves.

“They’ll be doing a lot of business late on and we’ve got a couple of games before then and that could determine things, one way or the other.”

Meanwhile, McGreal says the decision to change the Professional Development League to an under-23 format is a positive step.

The likes of Owen Garvan and Macauley Bonne have featured for Wayne Brown’s side this season, after the league was changed from its original under-21 format following a recent vote among the 31 clubs in the division.

McGreal added: “I’m all for it.

“They were looking to bring it in next season just it’s jumped a year to this year.

“It’s great for us - our first team squad is still relatively young.”