COLCHESTER United defender, George Elokobi, has signalled his desire to leave Layer Road by slapping in a transfer request.The Cameroon-born 21-year-old has been the subject of interest from a number of clubs this season, including Scottish giants Celtic and Premier League outfit Reading.

By Carl Marston

COLCHESTER United defender, George Elokobi, has signalled his desire to leave Layer Road by slapping in a transfer request.

The Cameroon-born 21-year-old has been the subject of interest from a number of clubs this season, including Scottish giants Celtic and Premier League outfit Reading.

However, U's boss Geraint Williams has insisted that no approach has yet been made for the highly-rated Elokobi, who started each of the first 14 games of this season until being dropped to the substitutes' bench for the last couple of fixtures.

Williams said: “I am obviously very disappointed that George feels it necessary to hand in this transfer request.

“As his agent has stated, we had a number of meetings with George and his agent while he was in the team and he stated that he had no intention of resigning from the club.

“There has been no offer for George, and we don't want to encourage any, because we feel that he has a bright future here.”

Elokobi, pictured right, was plucked out of non-league while playing for Dulwich Hamlet during the summer of 2004, and has since negotiated the step up from reserve football to being a regular in the Championship.

However, he has lost his left-back berth to the experienced Danny Granville over the last week, and was an unused substitute for the back-to-back 1-1 home draws against Leicester and Plymouth.