THE Asian Champions League knockout games later this month will come too soon for Alex Brosque, but the Sydney FC skipper is at least close to finalising a new deal to remain at the club next season.

Brosque played just 13 games last season and was forced to undergo surgery on his troublesome hamstring at the end of it, but he’s recently started running again and the priority is to get his future sorted.

The 32-year-old plans to take it season by season, assessing how each one has gone before committing to another.

“At my age there are different things that come into being a footballer,” Brosque said.

“You get more injuries than younger players and your form as well - you’re not as quick and sharp as you used to be. As the years go by that starts to drop off, so I don’t want to tie

myself into a two or three year deal after the first year.

“I’m happy at this stage of my career to play year by year and every year sit down with Arnie (Graham Arnold) and the club, and if they’re happy and I’m happy, keep going.

“We’ll finalise something, definitely by the end of the month I’d say because my contract ends in May and I don’t really want to be unemployed heading into June. The hamstring is feeling quite good and I’m hoping my issues with the hamstring are behind me now.”

Brosque and his teammates will attend Friday night’s Sky Blue Ball, to be hosted by Steph Brantz and Michael Zappone at the iconic SCG.

The team has just returned from China where, despite a 1-0 loss to Guangzhou Evergrande, they secured top spot in the ACL’s ‘group of death’.

But Brosque will have to watch their two-legged round of 16 clash with Shandong Lueng, to be played on May 18 and May 25, from the sidelines.

“It’ll be way too soon for me,” he said.

“I wish (I could play), it’s obviously going to be tough having to watch those games, as it wasmost of the season, but I’ve got a lot of recovery and work to do before I can get out there.

“The hamstring is going alright, I starting running a week ago which is good, so it’s slowly, slowly starting to feel much better. I’ve still got a fair way to go before I start up at preseason, but it’s good to know I’m recovering and healing well.”