IPSWICH defender Jason De Vos is poised to sign a new contract after insisting: “I want to spend the rest of my career here.”De Vos' agent has opened negotiations with the club about a new deal to replace his existing one, which is due to expire in the summer.

By Mel Henderson

IPSWICH defender Jason De Vos is poised to sign a new contract after insisting: “I want to spend the rest of my career here.”

De Vos' agent has opened negotiations with the club about a new deal to replace his existing one, which is due to expire in the summer.

And the outcome is likely to be that the 32-year-old Canadian international will soon commit himself to Town until at least 2008, by which time he expects to have experienced life in the Premiership for the first time.

De Vos has clocked up 81 appearances since he arrived in the summer of 2004, boss Joe Royle pipping a number of clubs to sign him on a free transfer after he rejected the opportunity to extend his three-year stay at Wigan.

With club captain Jim Magilton on the move at the end of the current campaign, De Vos will replace him and lead Town into the new season.

He said: “The business of a new contract is not something that I am putting any time or energy into. My agent is handling it and as far as I am concerned I am more than happy here and want to stay for the rest of my career.

“The future excites me. I can see us making a really big push for promotion next season - if we don't manage it this time, that is.

“I am not ruling out the possibility of us at least reaching the play-offs this year, not when we are playing as well as we have been in recent games.

“Of all the teams in the Championship, I would think that only the leaders, Reading, have been playing as well.

“The great thing is that we are not even at our strongest yet. We have so many players out through injury that the squad will be even better when they are ready and able to return.”

De Vos, who started his English career with Darlington, also had a spell north of the border with Dundee United.

But it is with Ipswich that he expects to hit the heights before he and his wife pack their bags and take their young children across the Atlantic to launch a new chapter of their lives.

He added: “They are starting a new Toronto club in Major League Soccer next year and that is something that interests me for the future

“But at the moment I am thinking about nothing else other than playing for Ipswich and, hopefully, helping them into the Premiership.

“The situation at the club bodes really well for the future. There are good youngsters already in the team and others on the fringes whose chance will come.

“Billy Clarke, for example, is very, very unlucky that he picked up an injury last year. He is one heck of a player and can become a really big favourite here.

“When I look around me I am excited by what I see and that is why I want to stay with Ipswich for the foreseeable future.”

Town are also set to reward 35-year-old Dutch defender Fabian Wilnis with a new 12-month deal, while defender Chris Casement is the latest young star after Matt Richards, Scott Barron and Owen Garvan to also pledge their futures to the club. Casement has signed a two-year extension.