LOANEE Aaron Collins has vowed to "kick on" and seize his opportunity at Colchester United.

The striker joined in early June on a season-long loan from Premier League new-boys Wolverhampton Wanderers.

He has already caught the eye in pre-season and was among the scorers in Saturday's 5-1 victory against Gillingham in a friendly at the JobServe Community Stadium.

Now he hopes to go from strength to strength and make his mark for the U's in their League Two campaign, which gets underway at Notts County on Saturday.

“I’d rather be out playing first-team football than playing for Wolves' under-23s," said the Newport-born frontman, who has previously been on loan at Notts County, Tranmere Rovers, Maidstone United and Newport County.

“I finished my loan at Newport at the end of last season and just assumed I’d be going back to Wolves.

“But I spoke to my under-23s manager, Scott Sellars, who’s now changed roles at the club (becoming head of academy player development), and he’d rather me be out on loan, because he knows my development will be ten times better than playing 23s.

“I’ve been at Wolves for two and a half years and been out on loan for two years of that, so he knows I’m capable of playing in the Football League.

“He wants me to play and get some consistency in the team.

“He was a good professional at the likes of Newcastle, Leeds and Blackburn and he’s tried to bring things into my game which I’ve needed in the time I’ve been at Wolves.

“It’s nice to be able to say I’m a Premier League player!

“The club are in the Premier League and I’m at a Premier League club but I’m at Colchester now and don’t need to think about Wolves.

“My main aim is to kick on at Colchester and, if I do that, there’s no reason why Wolves won’t look at me and see me kicking on."

After their comprehensive victory against the Gills, Collins and his U's team-mates are looking forward to Saturday's League Two curtain-raiser at Meadow Lane.

“It’s a great first game of the season for us," he said.

“Notts County are a huge club and it’ll be nice to go back to Meadow Lane – hopefully I’ll be in that starting XI.

“I enjoy playing as a two up front but I also like playing as a left or right winger or wide of a three.

“That’s just me as a player – I like to be able to play off someone.

“I’m not the biggest or strongest player but enjoy playing around other strikers and making those runs in behind to stretch teams.

“Colchester have brought in a couple of strikers and a couple of wingers.

“Frank (Nouble) came from Newport with me and we both play in a similar position and Luke Norris has also come in.

“There’s going to be competition but that’s what you want – it pushes you to work harder and makes you a better player.

“There will be a lot of players looking to secure their place for the new season."

In addition to Nouble, Collins, who played for Wales Under-19s against Germany in April 2015, also knew U's full-back Ryan Jackson from their time together at Newport.

“I know Jacko – he was at Newport when I came through and got my first (pro) there," he said.

“There were a lot of characters at Newport at the time and Jacko was one of them.

“He’s a good lad and he made me feel welcome at Newport and now here."