Dillon Barnes may have arrived as Queens Park Rangers’ fourth first-team goalkeeper – but the Rs seemingly have no qualms over sparking a bunfight for their number one shirt.

The 23-year-old has signed a two-year deal at Loftus Road after rejecting a new deal at Colchester United, arriving on a free transfer.

Former Fulham trainee Barnes slots in alongside Joe Lumley, Seny Dieng and Liam Kelly, who was brought in from Livingston earlier this summer, but goalkeeping coach Gavin Ward is keen to create competition for places and expects to have three men scrapping for a starting place when the new Championship season gets up and running.

“We’re bringing in a goalkeeper who has done fantastically well at a young age at Colchester,” said Ward.

“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, Liam and Seny, 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 made his professional debut for Colchester in 2016 and last season, he totted up 26 appearances in all competitions, keeping eight clean sheets in the process.

The Enfield native said: “I’m really excited to get started.

“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.”

Rangers have made nine summer signings so far – and more movement looks to be in the offing.

Full-back Darnell Furlong, the son of club legend Paul, is being linked with a move to West Bromwich Albion for a fee in the region of £1.5 to £2 million while Rangers have reportedly had a second bid of around £450,000 rejected for former Brentford man Alan Judge.

Meanwhile, teenage Chelsea full-back Dujon Sterling is also allegedly closing in on a season-long loan to Loftus Road.

Rangers remain on the lookout for striking reinforcements and their firepower dwindled further as Northern Ireland international Paul Smyth was loaned to League One Wycombe for the 2019-20 campaign.