WANDERERS manager Dougie Freedman says a deal to extend Mark Davies’s contract at the Reebok Stadium is “very close”.

The 25-year-old, who scored his sixth goal of the season in Saturday’s 4-1 win over Hull, has been in talks for several months over an extension and last month there were reports he was on the verge of agreeing a new deal to keep him at the club until 2017.

Freedman says those discussions are still ongoing and have been since before his arrival in October, but he has given his blessing to the extension believing he can build his Whites team around the midfielder.

Freedman told The Bolton News: “Mark Davies was offered a new contract in the summer before I came to the club.

“Over the period when I came here, that was still being talked about.

“I think it is still ongoing but I will need to check upstairs where we are with it.

“I am pretty sure it is nearly agreed with my blessing in terms of him staying a lot longer.

“Mark Davies is somebody I want to build a team around.

“Where we are with it right now, I don’t think the ink is dry yet but I think it is very close.”