Former Colchester United forward Macauley Bonne will be playing his football in the Championship next season after signing for Charlton Athletic.

The 23-year-old has left Leyton Orient and signed a three-year contract with the Addicks, who have paid in the region of £200,000 for the forward.

It comes two years after Bonne left the U's to join Orient for an undisclosed fee, after ending his eight-year spell with Colchester.

The Ipswich-born forward, who scored his first professional goal on his 18th birthday when he netted for Colchester against Peterborough in October 2013, made 82 appearances in total during his time at the U’s, scoring 16 goals.

Bonne told the Charlton website: “I’m delighted to be here now, it’s been something that’s been on the cards for a while now and so I’m delighted that it’s over the line.

“Seeing how they’ve had a young team for the past two seasons and they’ve managed to get where they have with the youth in there. I thought it was the best move for me to progress and become a better player.”

Lee Bowyer, who has just agreed a new deal to extend his stay as Charlton manager, added: “If you don’t score goals, you don’t win games.

“We did the same thing last season with Lyle [Taylor], he was our first signing and Macauley’s ours this summer.

“We have to get people in that are going to do things in the attacking third, that’s what we’re focusing on and what we’ve been focusing on for a long time.

“Steve Gallen [the club’s head of Recruitment] has been looking at him for two years, so it’s been something that we’ve been keeping an eye on and now it’s the right time for him to come to us.”

Bonne joined Orient nearly two years ago after his contract at the U's expired in June 2017.

The Zimbabwe international scored 49 goals in 102 games at Brisbane Road.

He was Orient's top goalscorer during both of his two seasons at the O's, scoring more than 20 goals in each campaign.

He played a big part in helping Orient return to the EFL as National League champions, in the 2018-19 season.