Brown has been with Inverness for five seasons

SPL rivals Falkirk have approached the 25-year-old, who is out of contract at the end of the season.

But Christie said: "I am very hopeful a deal can be reached with Mark and it would be tremendous if he stayed.

"There has never been an impasse in negotiations and the board have come back with what I feel is a realistically enhanced offer."

Brown moved to Inverness in 2002, having started his career at Rangers and playing 20 games for Motherwell in 2001.

Craig Dargo, Darren Dods and Barry Wilson are also out of contract in the summer.

And Christie added: "I will speak to every player who is out of contract by the middle of next week and then it will be in the hands of the players themselves and their agents to decide if they want to accept the offers made to them.

"I know the fans and media are always interested in hearing about these things, but we have faced a hectic period fixtures-wise recently and when you work at a club, you concentrate first and foremost on the games.

"I am continuing to talk with those who are not playing regular football and one or two clubs have shown an interest in some of them.

"But the likes of Stuart Golabek and Liam Keogh have asked to wait a week or so before deciding what they want to do."