FILIPE Morais today claimed he wants to be at Valley Parade for a “long, long time” as talks on his City future continue.

Phil Parkinson is keen to keep Morais and Jon Stead after Saturday’s pulsating 3-3 FA Cup draw at Millwall stretched the unbeaten run to ten games.

Joint-chairman Julian Rhodes is understood to have held further discussions with the representatives of Morais yesterday and the winger sounded hopeful an agreement can be reached.

Morais said: “I think we’re closer. My agent has said it looks like we might be able to do a deal.

“I’ve kept out of it and tried to focus on games. Thankfully there are some options out there for me so I’m in a good position. But I’d love to stay at Bradford.

“Whether we agree terms, I don’t know. It’s up to the club really and we’re waiting to hear back from them.

“It’s not about finance for me. They know it’s pretty black and white. It’s not a complicated deal and they know I want to stay. The ball’s in their court. “I really love it here and it’s probably the best club I’ve ever played for.

"The fans are brilliant and it’s a joy - I want to be here for a long, long time.”

Morais took a while to break into the team after signing on the eve of the season. But he has been a regular during the current revival, starting ten of the last 11 games.

Former club MK Dons are believed to have registered an interest in him. Bolton also had a scout at Valley Parade last week with his deal at City now up.

Morais added: “It has probably been left a bit late, to be honest. I would have liked it to have been done earlier.

“But it’s always tricky with contracts especially during the season.

“Hopefully it will get sorted. If not, thankfully I’m in a better position than I was when I came to Bradford.”

Stead, whose second loan spell at the club has also now finished, wants a permanent move and Huddersfield have given City permission to talk to him.

Parkinson admits there is “more work to do” with the striker compared with the Morais situation. But he wants the experienced frontman to remain on board.

The City chief said: “Jon’s shown he can play up front with a number of different partners we’ve got at the club and in a number of different systems.

“He’s a great lad and we’ve really enjoyed working with him last year and again this time. We’ll see what we can do.

“Jon came in at a time when (James) Hanson was struggling and has been a big part of this run.

“It’s down to finances. I can only say to the board that I feel it’s important we keep these players to keep the momentum going.

“If we do, we’ve got a lot of options. We went into the Millwall game without Andrew Davies, Billy Clarke and Mark Yeates, three big players for us, and still ended up with a draw.

“I’ve always found that Julian and Mark (Lawn) will do everything they can to help us within the financial constraints we operate under. If it can be done, they’ll do it.”