A MOVE for Colchester United midfielder George Moncur looks out of Swindon Town’s reach, the Swindon Advertiser understands.

Despite the 22-year-old being born in Swindon to former Town and West Ham United midfielder John Moncur, sources close to the player suggest that it would be highly unlikely that the U’s player will be making a return to Wiltshire.

Having finished the year as Colchester’s top scorer with 14 goals to his name, the former West Ham player has already attracted a lot of interest early on in the transfer window.

Swindon chairman Lee Power has previously admitted his interest in Moncur, who was part of the Colchester side who were relegated to League Two after finishing their campaign in 23rd spot.

Charlton Athletic reportedly tabled an offer of £150,000 for the midfielder last week, with Barnsley, Peterborough United and MK Dons also interested.

However, Colchester director of football, Tony Humes, has said that bids for their player, who has one year remaining on his deal at the Weston Homes Community Stadium, have been well off the mark, with the U’s holding out for a figure closer to the region of £500,000.

“There has been some interest but it’s absolutely nowhere near what we value George at,” Humes told the Daily Gazette.

“In that respect, I don’t think you can call what we’ve received concrete offers.

“There’s a lot of talk going around but until someone comes in and matches our valuation, nothing will happen.

“George Moncur has had a couple of good years for us at Colchester.

“He still has some improving to do as a young player but he’s been successful for us and been a regular in the team.

“He’s a player of value – he’s under contract to us and we’d love to keep him and I’m sure he would be very successful in League Two.

“If you look at some of the players we have like George who have played a lot of games, they’re still very young.

“The likes of Sam Walker and Gavin Massey come under the same bracket.

“We have some good players at Colchester and we don’t want to let everyone go.

“It’s been a hard year but we want to be successful and we have ambition.”

Meanwhile, Town’s pre-season friendly with Shelbourne has been brought forward by a week and will now be played on Tuesday, July 12.