Cureton transfer request rejected

Want-away striker Jamie Cureton has had his transfer request rejected by Colchester United boss Geraint Williams.

The ex-Canaries player, who has a year left on his current contract, says he is disillusioned at Layer Road - but Williams says he will attempt to persuade the Championship's leading scorer to sign a new deal.

Cureton saw his partner in crime from last season, Chris Iwelumo, move to Charlton last month and, coupled with the failure to re-sign several other key players, believes the club's ambitions don't match his own.

Cureton had already hinted that he was not happy with the club's failure to agree new terms with Iwelumo and Richard Garcia, who both became free agents this summer. Garcia is currently considering his options.

On hearing of his good friend Iwelumo's move to Charlton, Cureton rued: “Perhaps the club could have done a little more to try and keep him.

“Once his contract had been allowed to run down to less than six months, he was always likely to go. That ploy can often backfire.”

The 31-year-old, who has a year left on his current contract, handed in a transfer request on Tuesday - an decision which is bound to alert a number of Championship clubs, including Norwich.

However, Williams is determined to keep his man.

“We are disappointed that Jamie feels he is in a position whereby he has had to hand in a transfer request,” he said.

“His success last season put him in the limelight, but we are looking forward to building for the future of Colchester United and we are keen for Jamie to be a part of that.

“I will stress that we do not want to sell Jamie. We would like him to stay. To that end, we will be continuing talks about extending his contract and hope we can come to an egreement with him soon.”

Us chief executive Marie Partner added: “Jamie's request was received by the club, but we will be formally responding in writing rejecting that request.”