DARLINGTON will hold further talks with Bobby Petta this week after assistant manager Mark Proctor said preliminary discussions with the former Celtic winger went "very well".

Manager David Hodgson met with Petta and his agent on Friday to talk about a possible move to the Williamson Motors Stadium and Quakers are confident he will sign a short-term deal.

Petta is a free agent after leaving Celtic in November. The 30-year-old was a target for Southampton and Bolton Wanderers last month, while Leeds United and Wigan Athletic have been credited with an interest in the Dutchman.

Whether or not Petta would be prepared to take a substantial drop in wages and play in League Two remains to be seen, although Proctor remains hopeful. He said: "We spoke to Bobby on Friday night, it went very well and he seems quite keen on joining us.

"It's at a very early stage and we intend to speak to him again on Monday or Tuesday.

"Hopefully we can come to some agreement and bring him to this football club.

"He's a free agent and it's a very positive move for us and I'm sure it would prove to be a good move for Bobby."

The left-sided player moved to England in 1996 when he joined Ipswich Town on a free transfer from hometown club Feyenoord. After making 87 appearances in three years at Portman Road Petta moved to Celtic in 1999.

In 2001 Petta was called up twice by Louis van Gaal to the Dutch squad during the 2000/01 season, only to pull out through injury.

Petta ended last season in the Premiership on loan at Fulham, where he made 14 appearances.

Proctor admits the signing of Petta would come as a major coup for a club which only came out of administration in September.

"It's always going to be difficult in attracting top class players at this level, but we've proved we can before and hopefully we can this time around," said Proctor.

Since the Sterling Consortium took control of the club four months ago, Quakers have persuaded Alun Armstrong, Craig Hignett and Clyde Wijnhard to sign deals until the end of the season, despite interest from bigger clubs.

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