Colchester United sign Luke Chambers and Luke Hannant as summer rebuild continues

Colchester United have completed the double signing of former Ipswich Town captain Luke Chambers and Cambridge United midfielder Luke Hannant.

Defender Chambers left Portman Road earlier this summer after he wasn't offered a new deal, bringing to an end a nine-year spell at the club.

During that time, he made 396 appearances, and captained the club for the vast majority of those matches.

Chambers, 35, will link-up with his former Ipswich teammate Cole Skuse in Essex who also made the move to Colchester last month.

"The chairman put a plan in place to get us in a position for this year to be able to really try and do something," Chambers said.

"That appealed to me straight away - I want to be coming to a club that has aspirations of being promoted and wanting to improve."

Chambers will be joined at Colchester by Hannant, 27, who rejected the offer of a new contract at newly-promoted Cambridge to sign for the U's instead.

"Last season was obviously a good one for me and Cambridge, being able to get a promotion under the belts was a great achievement for us all," said Hannant.

"But I was ready for a different challenge. I feel I'm an established League Two player now and the project that the manager said is in place for this season is something I really want to be a part of."

Both Chambers and Hannant have signed two-year deals.

Meanwhile, Ipswich winger Gwion Edwards has agreed to sign for fellow League One side Wigan Athletic when he becomes a free agent on July 1, while goalkeeper David Cornell has also left the club by mutual consent.

Elsewhere in League One, Cambridge United have signed Leyton Orient's James Brophy on a three-year contract.