Portsmouth's position over Christian Burgess' future with deal on the table

And Blues chief executive Mark Catlin is adamant he’s comfortable with how negotiations are progressing to keep the defender at Fratton Park.

Burgess’ deal comes to a close this summer, with the 28-year-old becoming one of cornerstones of this season’s promotion bid.

The man who’s now in his fifth season at the club he arrived at after leaving Peterborough in 2015 recently revealed he has options to choose from when it comes to where he will be playing next season.

But Burgess has also always made it clear he’s at home in Portsmouth, where he’s embraced both the football club and city.

Talks continue to be amicable between the parties, although Catlin stated there’s still a distance to travel until an agreement is reached.

Pompey are happy with the way those discussions are playing out, however, with the hope there is the desire on both sides to get a deal through to completion.

Catlin said: ‘I speak to Christian quite a lot, especially through this current crisis.

‘He’s a level head, but it’s not like every time I pick up the phone I’m asking him if he’s going to sign that deal or not?

‘It doesn’t work like that. He knows where we are and we know where he is.

‘As I’ve always said, for a player to sign a contract you need two willing partners agreeing and both happy.

‘At the moment, we’re not there.

‘But we’re not trying to force the situation and Christian is not trying to force the situation.

‘We’re both happy where we are at this moment in time.’

Burgess is one of eight players who are out of contract this summer, with four loan players also seeing their agreements come to a close.

The former Arsenal academy talent is joined by Brett Pitman, Oli Hawkins, Lee Brown, Brandon Haunstrup, Luke McGee, Adam May and Matt Casey in seeing their deals come to a close on June 30.

Cameron McGeehan, Sean Raggett, Steve Seddon and Ross McCrorie are the quartet who are on temporary stays.

Their situations are muddied by the fact the season is currently suspended and, if the campaign restarts, it is likely to continue beyond the period when all of those deals come to a close.

As the club’s Professional Footballers’ Association rep, Burgess spoke this week to air his support for Pompey’s conduct after placing players and most staff on furlough at full pay.