Titus Bramble says he "would love" to extend his contract at Sunderland and is looking forward to focusing only on football this season.
Bramble, who made his first Premier League start of the season in last weekend's 1-1 draw against Liverpool, will be out of contract at the Wearside club next summer.
The central defender, 31, is determined to become a first-choice pick for Martin O'Neill this season and convince the Black Cats boss to offer him a new deal.
"It's still something I'm interested in," Bramble told The Journal.
"If I'm playing games I don't see why I won't get offered a new contract. Of course I want to stay. I'm very happy up here and I would love to stay."
Bramble, who joined Sunderland from Wigan in 2010, only made eight top-flight appearances last season after missing almost five months of the season with an Achilles injury.
"This season I can just get my head down and focus on football - nothing else, which is the main thing," added Bramble.
"The challenge for me is to play as many games as possible because we've got four or five centre-halves and four of them are over 30."
