QPR have completed the signing of goalkeeper Dillon Barnes on a two-year deal.

The 23-year-old shot-stopper played 26 matches for Colchester United last season – keeping eight clean sheets – and he declined the offer of a new contract with the U’s during the summer.

He becomes Rangers’ ninth addition of the summer transfer window, with manager Mark Warburton explaining: “We’re delighted to welcome a talented, young goalkeeper with so much development potential in Dillon to the club.

“He has shown many qualities in his career already – and we look forward to seeing him develop in the months ahead.”

Goalkeeping coach Gavin Ward says that Barnes will provide good competition between the sticks.

He continued: “We’re bringing in a goalkeeper who has done fantastically well at a young age at Colchester. We see the potential that Dillon has got and we are hopeful that we can turn him into a very good goalkeeper.

“I’ve seen a lot of him, he has got the raw ingredients to become a very good goalkeeper. We have to perfect that now and make him technically as good as he can be.

“We have got Joe [Lumley], Liam [Kelly] and Seny [Dieng], and one of those will be going out on loan, so we don’t want to leave ourselves short. Tyla [Dickinson] and Marcin [Brzozowski] are doing great in the Under-23s but we just needed that extra one in as well.”

Barnes started his career at Barnet, before moving to Fulham and then enjoying loan stints at Farnborough and Bedford Town. He joined Colchester in 2015 and is now looking forward to his new challenge at QPR.

“I’m really excited to get started,” he said. “I learned a lot at Colchester, they really helped me to push on with my career and now I’m ready for this next chapter.

“Playing regular, first-team football in the league last season was a big learning curve for me and I really want to keep learning and improving as a goalkeeper. I’m really determined to make the most of this opportunity.”