RICHARD Garcia is poised to become the latest to join the exodus away from Layer Road.The Colchester United attacker seems certain to leave the Essex club next month, and Ipswich Town are among several Championship clubs who have already been linked with the talented Australian.

By Carl Marston

RICHARD Garcia is poised to become the latest to join the exodus away from Layer Road.

The Colchester United attacker seems certain to leave the Essex club next month, and Ipswich Town are among several Championship clubs who have already been linked with the talented Australian.

However, Hull City are currently leading the chase to sign Garcia, just as the Tigers are also interested in buying his U's team-mate Jamie Cureton.

It has been one blow after another for Colchester United supporters this summer, following a dream first ever campaign in the Championship. The U's finished a superb 10th in the table, and everything looked rosy.

Since then, though, key target man Chris Iwelumo has joined Charlton Athletic on a three-year deal and his strike-force partner Cureton is adamant that he will leave the club, despite the U's turning down his request for a transfer.

Furthermore, left-back Chris Barker, who spent the whole of last season on loan from Cardiff, opted to sign a permanent contract with QPR rather than the U's last month and yesterday the EADT broke the news that assistant manager Mick Harford had finally agreed terms to become the new No. 2 to John Gregory at QPR.

Garcia's wish to leave Colchester, and his decision to turn down the offer of a new one-year contract, is the latest in a long line of setbacks, leaving manager Geraint Williams with a lot of rebuilding over the next month or so.

Garcia made his intentions very clear yesterday, revealing that Hull City were keen to sign him. Other Championship clubs could be in the running, including Ipswich - the 25-year-old impressed against Town last term.

“From what I've heard, Hull are trying to be ambitious,” said Garcia.

“They have a new chairman (Paul Duffen) who has come in to succeed.

They are clearly looking forward and are obviously planning promotion.

“I would like to be a part of that, but it's just nice knowing that there is interest out there.”

Garcia has spent the last three seasons at Layer Road, and was a key player in guiding Phil Parkinson's men into the Championship with promotion in 2005-06.

But the former West Ham trainee, who made 22 first team appearances for the Hammers before his move to the U's, is unhappy that he has only been offered a new one-year contract by United.

Garcia's current deal expires on July 1, but Hull would not be able to sign him before then anyway, due to an embargo on the Humberside club signing any Colchester players for 12 months following Parkinson's ill-fated move to the KC Stadium as the Tigers boss last summer.

In addition to recruiting several new players, especially a couple of new strikers, Williams is also on the look-out for a new assistant following Harford's move to Loftus Road.

Early contenders for the No. 2 post include current goalkeeping coach Aidan Davison, and Charlton's reserve team coach Mark Kinsella, who was voted Colchester United's best ever player by EADT readers last season.