Colchester United have signed a defender with “good attributes” after snapping up teenager Dan Jefferies, according to under-23 boss Wayne Brown.

The 18-year-old has linked up for the U’s under-23 development squad after leaving Swansea City at the end of last season and was on the bench for the club’s first-team friendly against Gillingham, last Friday.

Jefferies will now be hoping to follow in the footsteps of fellow central defenders Frankie Kent and Cameron James, who have both progressed from Colchester’s academy to the first team over recent years.

Brown told the Daily Gazette: “We got Dan in last season. He played a couple of games for us in the Premier League Cup but unfortunately, he broke the bottom part of his leg.

“We told him that we’d liked what we’d seen and we’d have another look at him but also that we couldn’t do a lot, at that stage.

“We brought him back at the end of last season and he played a couple of games and did really well.

“He’s a good age to work with and he’s got good attributes. He’s a good size and he wants to defend, which is a little bit of a rarity at this level.

“He did his scholarship at Swansea but didn’t get a pro contract there, so it’s good to get him involved and at the club.

“It’s definitely a position that we’re looking to strengthen and we’re quite light in that department in the under-23s.”

After linking up with Colchester’s development squad, Jefferies will benefit from the coaching expertise and experience of former defender Brown, who enjoyed a distinguished career as a centre-half and played in the Premier League.

But the former U’s defender insists their academy coaching focuses on every role, rather than one specific position.

He said: “You want to tap as much information into him as you can into the players.

“Centre-half is obviously a position I can relate to, having played there for many years.

“But we try and give the best we can to all of the lads, in every position.”

Brown has revealed that his football contacts played a part in Jefferies signing for Colchester.

“With our recruitment of academy players here, a lot of it comes down to who you know in the game,” he added.

“Gary Richards, who’s now in charge of Swansea’s under-23s, was on my coaching course and he gave us the heads up that Dan might not get a pro contract.”