Former under-21 international Owen Garvan leaves Colchester United

Former Republic of Ireland under-21 midfielder Owen Garvan has left English League Two side Colchester United by mutual consent 'for personal reasons.'

29-year-old Garvan has been absent from matchday squads since the 4-0 defeat to Portsmouth on March 11^th and now leaves with the club's best wishes.

"Owen came to us and requested the opportunity to leave the club for personal reasons,” said director of football Tony Humes.

“We have been working with him over the past few weeks to resolve the situation in the best way possible.

"We have now managed to reach a conclusion on our conversations with him and we have come to a mutual agreement to allow Owen to depart.”

Garvan joined Colchester in 2015 after being released from his contract at Crystal Palace and made 53 appearances, scoring nine times.

The Dubliner was part of the famous Home Farm schoolboy side that went three years undefeated, with team mates including Darren O'Dea, Chris McCann and Bohemians goalkeeper Shane Supple.

A 16-year-old Garvan, along with team mates Supple and Michael Synott, joined Ipswich Town and within a year had made his breakthrough to the first team.

After five years at Portman Road, Garvan joined Crystal Palace, whom he helped to promotion to the Premier League in 2013.

He made just two top-flight appearances for the Eagles, and spent periods of loan at Millwall and Bolton Wanderers, before joining Colchester in the summer of 2015.