BRAZILIAN defender Raphael Branco is feeling right at home as he looks set to sign a new deal at the club.

The defender, who has missed a large chunk of this season since picking up a groin injury against Sheffield United back in September, has said that he expects a new deal to be signed by this weekend.

Branco penned a one year deal back in June but, despite his injury, he has impressed Town boss Mark Cooper suitably to suggest he could be a long term option in the Robins’ defence.

With Jack Stephens and Jordan Turnbull both only on temporary loan deals with the club, Cooper was keen to strengthen his back-line and could still add to that area in January.

When asked about his contract the Brazilian said: “I think by this weekend we will have everything sorted.

“I like Swindon, I like the club and I am feeling comfortable playing here with the players. We are having a conversations (about contracts), so hopefully everything will be sorted.

“The way we play in Swindon and the club, the way we play football is good for me.

“It is going to give me security, just put my head on a pitch and work here and keep focused to what we have to do this season to get promoted.”

The news comes after a sterling return to first team action in the cauldron of a local derby with Bristol City last weekend.

Branco put his brief appearance in the FA Cup humiliation at Cheltenham behind him and with a full week’s training under his belt looked solid as he kept City forward Aaron Wilbraham quiet for much of the game, a mental battle he relished.

“The game against Cheltenham was quite hard for everyone, but especially for me after six weeks I had just trained twice before the game and it was really hard but I had a good week before the Bristol game and I was feeling great.

“We dominated the game, so when we dominate the game we try to go in the strikers head.

“When you do that the striker doesn’t feel good, he is scared of you and won’t come and header against you.”