Braintree Town manager Danny Cowley says he understands why Chez Isaac hasn’t rushed to take up the offer of re-engagement made to him by the club.

The Iron midfielder is a player who Cowley would love to have in his team in his inaugural season as manager, but he is one of the few members of last season’s squad still to commit to a return for next year’s Vanarama National League campaign.

Cowley understands Isaac’s ambition to play in the Football League, but he is hopeful that he will be able to persuade the xx-year-old to sign up again.

Cowley said: “Chez has been offered re-engagement and we are waiting to see how it works out.

“He is a young and hungry player, which is exactly the type of player that we want, but you have to accept that those players have ambitions.

“Chez has ambitions to play full-time football, ideally in the Football League, but we’re hoping we will be able to persuade him to stay.

“We would be compensated if he did decide to move on and we have one or two targets that we are looking at should that be the case, but Chez was a key player for Braintree Town last year and we’d love to keep him.

“He has a real energy and fantastic mobility.

“We set our teams up with a high energy and we feel he will do well in our environment.

“We also feel he can add more goals to his game and we’d love to work with him to achieve that.

“It would be great if we could keep hold of him for another year and give him a springboard to further his career.

“We have absolutely no issue with him talking to any other clubs; we are talking to him and keeping an clear and open dialogue.

“However, I hope he will be with us from a selfish point of view as I feel Braintree will be a better team with him in it.”