He has experienced one or two ups and downs, this season.

But Colchester United loanee Jacob Murphy believes the last few months have helped him mature as a person.

The 20-year-old has made a big impact since joining the U’s on loan from Norwich City, earlier this month.

Murphy has impressed with his three performances for Colchester so far and scored in their 2-0 win over Yeovil Town, last week.

However, it has not all be plain sailing for the England under-20 international, in the current campaign.

Murphy’s loan spell at Championship strugglers Blackpool was cut short last December, in controversial circumstances.

He posted an image on social media with the words “We are going to lose... Again”, in reference to the Tangerines’ poor league form.

Murphy apologised but returned to Norwich soon after, something the U’s loanee says he has learnt from.

He said: “I’ve had to deal with a lot of things this season and it’s made me a better player and person - I’ve grown up a lot.

“Loans are all about experience and I’ve gained lots of that.

“My goals are to gain more experience and get some more minutes.

“I’m here to help Colchester as well - it would be a bit selfish of me to say I’m here for myself.

“I’ve experienced difficult situations with the loans I’ve had but I look to those as opportunities.

“The more difficult the situation, the more I rise to the challenge ahead.

“Everything is going really well at Colchester.

“It’s a young squad so it’s easy to mix in with the boys and have settled in really well.”

Murphy has been at Norwich for nearly nine years, having originally joined them at under-12 level with his twin brother Josh in 2006.

He was part of the Canaries academy when former U’s boss Paul Lambert was in charge of the Canaries.

“He (Lambert) was very straight to the point - he was a tough manager and it worked very well for him.

“I was coming through the youth team there when he was in charge, so I wasn’t really involved as much but he was a top manager.”

For all of the latest Colchester United news, see the Daily Gazette.