Faz signs fresh Minstermen deal

The 25-year-old striker has agreed terms on a new contract and will put pen to paper tomorrow - becoming the 12th player to be retained ahead of the manager's raids in the transfer market.

Walker offered Farrell terms late last week but the Middlesbrough-born forward wanted to talk it over with his family before committing.

Farrell netted 14 times last season despite enduring a campaign hampered by injury. He started only 13 Blue Square Premier matches, making another seven league appearances as a substitute, and Walker estimated he had missed more than 80 days of training.

After overcoming a troublesome thigh injury, Farrell later bruised five bones in a foot and revealed he had played against Torquay in the FA Trophy semi-final second leg at KitKat Crescent with the help of pain-killing injections.

Two months on, Farrell is still troubled by the injury and while he has been back in training during the season's wind-down, he has been unable to sprint.

While he acknowledges it has been a difficult season, both personally and for the team and supporters, he is determined to come back firing in pre-season.

"I'm delighted to have agreed terms," Farrell said. "This season this been very frustrating. Hopefully I will feel a massive improvement in the near future. I possibly shouldn't have played the second leg of the Torquay game. Things didn't go to plan and I caused some more damage. But I felt it was pivotal to the season - we had the chance to go to Wembley - and I felt it was a game I should play in.

"There is grade one bruising on my foot - on five different bones. It is not a break, so that's good news. It doesn't sound like anything - a bruised foot - but it's painful and it's a slow process. Hopefully, I can come back fully fit and firing after the summer."

Walker said: "Craig will be an important part of my plans for next season. The major concern was that he has had a lot of time off this year. When he has played, he's scored quite regularly but he has had a lot of time off and we have had discussions about that. He is very hard-working, he's very strong and has got pace and is a major asset."