USL Championship side Detroit City have confirmed the signing of Blues striker Ben Morris, TWTD having revealed that the 23-year-old was close to making the switch earlier this month.
Morris has joined Le Rouge for the 2023 season with the club having an option to keep him for the 2024 campaign with football in the US played through the summer.
The frontman's Town contract was up in the summer but the club agreed its termination six months early to facilitate the move.
Colchester-born Morris spent almost 16 years with the Blues, coming through the Town academy and making one senior start - the 2-1 defeat at Nottingham Forest in April 2018 - and four sub appearances.
Morris spent spells on loan at Woking and Forest Green Rovers, and also won England caps at U17, U18 and U19 levels, featuring alongside Flynn Downes, Andre Dozzell, Tristan Nydam, Nick Hayes and recent loan signing George Hirst.
However, Morris’s Town career was hit by two cruciate knee ligament injuries, the first in February 2019 and the second in August 2020 within eight months of returning from the first.
The forward made his comeback in the U23s in the summer of 2021 and joined Swedish club GAIS on loan last January, enjoying a successful spell in the Ettan Södra (third tier) before returning to Town prior to Christmas.
Morris made his final appearance in a Blues shirt in the 4-2 U21s victory over Colchester at Playford Road at the end of last month and scored twice.
Speaking about Morris and his future just before the closure of the transfer window on the day of the Colchester U21s match, manager Kieran McKenna said: "In terms of his plans longer terms and loans, that’s obviously for the club and Ben to discuss.
"He’s trained with us quite a few times, a really good person, a good player, I can see why he was so highly thought of early in his career and he’s had some unlucky times with injuries over the years.
"There’s still a talented footballer there and good for him to get a game today and continue to build himself up and I’m sure he can still go on to have a good career.”
Detroit City boss Trevor James was a young player with Town in the 1970s before moving to the States and later had a spell as a youth coach back at Town.
They play in the USL Championship's Eastern Conference and in 2022 reached the play-off quarter-finals.
Phoenix Rising, co-owned by the Blues' Three Lions, Brett Johnson, Mark Detmer and Berke Bakay, play in the Western Conference.