Crawley will renew contract talks with Josh Simpson next week to try to convince the midfielder to commit his future to the club.

Simpson is out of contract in the summer and discussions over a new deal stalled at the end of last year.

Further negotiations were put on hold during the January transfer window but boss Richie Barker is hopeful of persuading the 25-year-old to sign after handing him the captain’s armband following Gary Alexander's loan move to AFC Wimbledon.

Barker said: “I want him to stay and the indications are he wants to stay.

“It was discussed around Christmas time but we had one of the busiest transfer windows anybody has ever seen. I need to sit down with the powers that be and try to push it over the line.”

Simpson insisted in December that he would like to stay at Crawley but the club have yet to offer him terms he is happy with.

He said: “Things were put on hold for a while because there was a lot of coming and goings at the club but now the transfer window is closed we can talk again.

“There are a few things we are talking about but I don’t want to go into detail. I would like to stay but we’ll speak to the owners and see what happens.”