POTENTIAL free agent Bryce Gibbs insists he wants to stay at Carlton next year, rejecting speculation he is considering a return home to Adelaide for the rest of his football career.

Gibbs said he was still locked in talks with the Blues about a long-term deal, saying he has been satisfied in recent chats with the club that both are on the same page heading into the future.

“I’m still under negotiations with the club ... as far as I know, it is all going really well and really positive, so hopefully it can get done soon,” he said.

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He dismissed talk that he has put his contract talks on hold until the end of the season, which is so often the tell-tale sign that a player is on the move.

Asked if he had indicated to Carlton that he wanted to stay, Gibbs said: “Yeah, definitely.”

“If it could be done tomorrow, it would be done tomorrow,” he said. “You can’t rush these things. It is all positive.

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“(The speculation) has been all you guys (the media). I am not too sure where it has come from. It definitely hasn’t come from me.

“I am confident (of staying) ... the negotiations are going well and there is open dialogue between my manager and the club. It is as simple as that.”

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He said if there had been offers from the two South Australian clubs — Adelaide or Port Adelaide — it would be in the hands of his management company, saying he did not want to know about it.

“At this stage I am playing at Carlton and that is all I have got in my mind,” he said. “I am settled in Melbourne. I have been here for eight years.”

Gibbs, 25, said none of his teammates, including captain Marc Murphy, had pressured him into making a decision as “everyone just assumes that I will stay”.