SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown insists it is now or never in his pursuit of Zavon Hines.

The former Bradford City winger has been on trial with Blues for the past three weeks.

And Brown is now keen to conclude a deal.

“If a deal for Zavon is going to happen then it needs to be done before our game with Oxford in the Checkatrade Trophy because it’s one I want him to be playing in,” said the Shrimpers chief.

“I’m meeting with the chairman today and have four or five things to go through and one of those is definitely Zavon so we will see what we can sort out.”

Hines again impressed for Blues’ under 21s in Tuesday night’s 2-0 win against Peterborough United.

And his fitness is now also starting to improve as he continues to work his way back from a serious knee problem.

“When Zavon first came in you could see he had the ability but his fitness was obviously behind the other lads because he hadn’t played for a while,” said Brown.

“That’s been built up now through training and in the under 21 matches he’s had as well.

“I’m sure he wants to come here and hopefully we’ll be able to get something sorted for him to join us.”

Hines started his career with West Ham United but has not played a competitive first team game since lining up for Dagenham & Redbridge against Notts County in September 2015.

Since then, the 27-year-old has undergone two operations on the same knee.

But Brown revealed in depth scans showed Hines can now be confident of continuing his career pain free.

“We wanted to get everything checked before offering a deal and the scans we had done showed there was only a low to medium risk of Zavon breaking down with another knee injury,” said Brown.

“I didn’t want to be wasting the chairman’s money so it was important we looked into things properly and got an opinion from the experts which is what we did and it was positive news.”

And Brown is now keen to add another wide-man to his ranks.

“I like my wingers so it would be good to bring in another one,” said Brown.

“But any winger in our team has to be prepared to do the ugly side of the game and work hard defensively just like Stephen McLaughlin is doing.”