Colchester United have begun a potentially busy afternoon of signing new players, by snapping up former Southend United left-back Sean Clohessy on a two-year deal.

Croydon-born Clohessy, who was playing in the Scottish Premier Division with Kilmarnock last season, has been recruited by manager Joe Dunne as a replacement for Brian Wilson.

“I’ve been tracking Sean for a long while,” enthused Dunne this afternoon.

“He is a very tenacious full-back, and he has added bits to his game during his time in Scotland, particularly defensively.”

Clohessy himself said: “It’s great to be back in Essex, after my three good years at Southend.

“The plan was to always come back down south eventually.”

Former U’s skipper Wilson’s move to Oldham Athletic earlier this summer left the U’s in desperate need of a new right-back, and 27-year-old Clohessy certainly fits the bill.

On the books of Arsenal as a youngster, Clohessy came through Gillingham’s youth team before making his Gills senior debut in a Trophy game against Wycombe in November, 2005.

He stayed with the Gills until 2009, and ended up at Southend a year later after a season with Conference club Salisbury and only a couple of weeks at Bath in the close season.

Clohessy made a big impact at Roots Hall. He set a club record for the most number of consecutive games by a Southend player in one season (59 in 2012-13), and in all rattled up 166 senior appearances before turning down the offer of a new contract last summer, choosing instead to move north of the border to join Kilmarnock.

Now, however, he is looking forward to plying his trade back in the English game, with League One Colchester.