IPSWICH Town skipper Jason De Vos has been offered a new one-year deal at Portman Road but has deferred making any decision until the summer.The centre-half's contract expires in July and he has considered quitting in the summer.

Derek Davis

IPSWICH Town skipper Jason De Vos has been offered a new one-year deal at Portman Road but has deferred making any decision until the summer.

The centre-half's contract expires in July and he has considered quitting in the summer.

He is in the process of selling his house in East Bergholt and is ready to retire to his native Canada, where he has been offered work as a television pundit.

But he has kept his options open and manager Jim Magilton is keen to keep his captain at Ipswich next season, whichever division they are in.

Magilton said: “I've spoken with Jason and we have offered him a new one-year contract.

“He's been terrific for us this year and we have sat down and talked about his future but at the moment he wants to concentrate on the rest this season.

“Jason is fully focused on the remaining six games of the Championship season and getting the club into the play-offs and doesn't want anything to get in the way of that.

“He has said he will make a decision as soon as the season is over and that is fine by me.”

For Town fans who like omens, De Vos's situation is similar to that of Tony Mowbray, whose house in East Bergholt he bought when he moved to Ipswich in the summer of 2004.

Player-coach Mowbray headed in a goal for Town in the play-off final at Wembley in 2000 to help the Blues reach the Premiership before retiring.

De Vos said: “I'm doing some work for a TV station in Canada in the summer and that is one line I might explore in the future but as I've said, nothing will be decided until the end of the season.

“All that concerns me at the moment is Colchester on Saturday.”

De Vos has made 173 appearances for Town, netting 11 goals, since signing on as a free agent after leaving Wigan.

Meanwhile Blues defender Richard Naylor is expected to leave hospital today after a successful operation on his neck injury.

Naylor will miss the rest of this season but he hopes to be back in time for pre-season training in July.

Physio staff continue to monitor Shefki Kuqi and David Norris in the hope they will be fit for the crucial Championship clash at Colchester's Layer Road this weekend.