CONTRACT talks are taking place 'behind the scenes' at Colchester United, ahead of a busy summer at the club.

More than a dozen first-team players are due to see their existing deals expire in the coming weeks, as the U's prepare for another season in League Two.

The likes of skipper Harry Pell, Callum Harriott, Tom Lapslie and Ben Stevenson are all set to see their contracts expire.

Tom Eastman, Jevani Brown and Ryan Clampin are also set to see their present deals come to an end.

Frank Nouble, Josh Doherty and Aramide Oteh are also set to see their loan spells end, after this weekend.

Colchester interim head coach Hayden Mullins says that talks are already taking place with players, at Florence Park.

Mullins said: “For me, the focus is on games.

“The director of football and the performance director and people like that have more of a say in that than me.

“Conversations are being had, I’m sure and work is going on behind the scenes but I’m not clued up on that.

“It’s quite a big summer – there’s a few boys out of contract and the club need to tie down who they want as the head coach going forward and make decisions on players’ futures.

“Like you can imagine, players are asking the question as much as others so it’s one that we need to get the game out of the way and we’re focusing the boys solely on that.

“Then hopefully the club can move forward, in terms of what they want to do."

Colchester complete their League Two season on Saturday with a trip to play promotion hopefuls Tranmere Rovers.

The U's are looking to finish the campaign on a high and chalk up only their second away victory of the season.

Ten of Colchester's 11 league wins this season have come at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Colchester's only other away win in the 2020-21 season came at Scunthorpe United, where a Tommy Smith goal gave them a 1-0 victory back in December.

Mullins said: “It goes to show that the players seem more comfortable at home.

“We don’t travel too well, which is something that we have to address."