GARY Deegan hopes to commit his future to Southend United by the end of the week.

The 27-year-old midfielder is due to hold more contract talks with Shrimpers boss Phil Brown today.

But the Irishman is confident of soon signing a new deal to remain at Roots Hall.

“I want to the stay and the manager wants me to stay as well, so it’s basically just a case of signing on the dotted line now and I’m hoping to do that this week,” said Deegan.

“We will be talking more today, but I’ve made it clear I want to stay to try to build on the success of last season.

“The lads are all still flying and I want to be making the move up to League One with them.”

Deegan, who has been with Southend since last August, flew to Spain with the Shrimpers for the start of pre-season training last week, despite not having agreed a new deal.

And the tough tackling midfielder revealed it had been gruelling few days for the squad.

“Pre-season is always hard and it’s certainly been a tough time for us all but that’s what you expect,” said Deegan.

“There’s been a lot of running but it was good to have a game against Tottenham on Saturday to get the games going again.

“We didn’t have an awful lot of the ball but we all got something from it which will help us going forward.

“Now we’re looking forward to the games we have coming up as we continue to prepare for the season.”

Blues will next be in action when they travel to Ryman Division One North side Great Wakering Rovers tomorrow night, kick off 7.45pm.