Colchester to move for Barker

Colchester boss Geraint Williams has confirmed his wish to bring on-loan Cardiff City defender Chris Barker to Colchester on a permanent deal.

Barker has helped Colchester to a respectable league position after 4 losses to start the campain and has impressed the management and fans of the U’s.

It was only recently that Barker was an ever-present for Cardiff and is a consistent performer at this level. He was allowed on loan while McNaughton and Ledley are first choices at left back but could certainly do a good job for City. He was named player of the season 3 years ago and returned re-vitalised following a former loan spell at Stoke and excelled throughout the season to prove his manager (then Lennie Lawrence – 2004) wrong.

Williams has not ruled out extending the loan deal to the end of the season but knows he faces competition from rival Championship clubs after they were alerted to his availability but Jones may wish to keep him as he still trains 2 days per week with the Cardiff squad and any player with his experience and quality would surely cost money when the window opens.

Barker arrived from Barnsley in 2002 for around £600k and has been a first team player for Cardiff ever since. He is on loan at Colchester until December 31st this year and has so far appeared 12 times for the U’s.