20-year-old winger Tariqe Fosu has agreed to embark on a loan move to Colchester United and will aim to add more first team experience to his footballing CV by spending the rest of 2016 with John McGreal’s League Two outfit.
Tariqe played a full part in our Checkatrade Trophy win over Bristol Rovers last night and has opted to make a deadline day loan move to League Two which will see him stay in Essex until Saturday 7th January 2017.
Fosu made his Royals debut when he came off the bench on the last day of the 2014-15 season in a 3-0 win at Pride Park and enjoyed two loan stints away from Madejski Stadium last season.
The fleet-footed midfielder initially got a taste of regular first team football with Fleetwood, scoring on his full professional debut in a 5-1 win over Swindon Town last November.
He went on to make seven appearances for the Cod Army in total, before returning to Lancashire to begin a successful stint at Accrington Stanley in March.
Under John Coleman, he impressed in the last few months of the League Two season, scoring against Cambridge, Hartlepool and York in nine appearances which helped take Accrington to the brink of automatic promotion.
Fosu was named League Two's Player of the Month for April in fact, but the Wham Stadium faithful had to settle for the play-offs in the end and a semi-final defeat to AFC Wimbledon brought the Royals Academy product’s stay to an end in May.
He scored twice against Boreham Wood in our opening pre-season friendly of the summer, notched against Everton in an International Cup defeat four our U23s and then bagged another goal in a Premier League 2 win over Manchester City at Madejski Stadium earlier this month.
Fosu now leaves our Under-23 set-up to get more first team football under his belt with United – who, having suffered relegation last season, now sit in fourth place in League Two after three wins, one draw and one defeat to date.
Fosu could make his debut against another Royals youngster who has made a deadline day loan move to League Two – Colchester host Jack Stacey’s Exeter City this weekend.
In total, Fosu could play a part in as many as 20 league fixtures for the Us before his loan is scheduled to expire with a home fixture against Carlisle United in January. We would like to wish Tariqe the very best of luck in his loan spell at the Colchester Community Stadium.