Southend United manager Paul Sturrock plans talks with John Spicer (From Echo)

Southend United manager Paul Sturrock plans talks with John Spicer

3:07pm Tuesday 24th July 2012 in Sport By Chris Phillips

SOUTHEND United manager Paul Sturrock is set to step up his interest in John Spicer.

The 28-year-old midfielder has played in Blues’ last two pre-season friendlies at Great Wakering Rovers and Braintree Town.

And Sturrock will soon be holding talks with Spicer’s agent to find out if a free transfer might be feasible.

“I will be having discussions with John’s agent in the next couple of days to find out what kind of figures we are talking about,” said Sturrock.

“He’s played our last couple of games and in training we’re seeing a different John every day.

“Right now it’s suiting him coming in because he’s based not too far from here and he’s been able to get fitter.

“But after I’ve spoken to his agent we will have a much clearer picture about what will happen next.”

Spicer started his career with Arsenal before spending time with Bournemouth, Burnley, Doncaster, Leyton Orient and Notts County, who released him in May.

The midfielder has made 221 career appearances and will now be hoping to stay with Blues for their tour of Madrid this weekend.

Winger Stephen Brogan, who scored twice against Braintree on Saturday and striker Jordan Robertson also stand a good chance of heading to Spain with Southend.

But Sturrock has yet to determine who will make up his squad for the trip.

“We do only have a set number of spaces that we can take with us,” said the Blues boss.

“I will be sitting down with my staff to talk things through today, but the main thing is giving the right amount of game time to our contracted players and making sure they’re fully fit for the start of the season.”

Goalkeeper Mark Brown is also among those being considered by Sturrock after playing at Braintree on Saturday.

However, Sturrock did hint that he was still looking at other shot-stoppers.

“There are plenty of goalkeepers out there and it’s just a case of making sure we get the right one,” said Sturrock.

“There’s also the loan market to take in to consideration and it’s something else I’ll be talking about today.

“I think it’s quite obvious that we need to bring in a goalkeeper and at least one more central midfielder.”