Tilson is confident of soon sealing a move which would see the 21-year-old signing a two-and-a-half-year contact with the club.
The French midfielder has been playiong well for the Shrimpers since signing on loan from Portsmouth in September.
Speaking to the Southend Evening Echo, Tilly confirmed: "Things are progressing well with Jean. It should all be sorted now before the end of the week and it would be great to keep him. He's done well for us and we've been waiting for his agent to come back to us with a proposal. That didn't happen until Monday but it's almost done now."
Christophe has made 18 appearances for the Blues and is also keen to stay for longer. He told the Echo: "I want to stay so hopefully it can all be sorted out. I like it at the club. I've got to play games and it's a good opportunity for me. I like the area too and would like to stay at Southend."
Christophe's three-month loan spell will expire next week but he will not figure this weekend after picking up a hamstring problem in last week's 3-1 win over Luton Town in the FA Cup. JFC will be out of action for between two to four weeks.
Christophe continued: "I did it when I was running back towards my own goal last Saturday. Something popped in my right leg but I shouldn't be out for too long with it. It's never nice to miss any games but it will be OK again soon. It's disappointing that I can't play. Leicester are a good side so it would've been great to play them and another reason why I'm frustrated is because my friend plays for them who I was at Bournemouth with."
In the meantime both our Frenchmen, Jean-Francois Christophe and Francis Laurent, were on hand to help young pupils with their studies yesterday. The duo spoke in their native language to a class at the Montgomerie County Junior School in Benfleet.
They run an afterschool club with Southend United and were grateful that the players could come down to help our pupils get into French a little bit more."
Christophe and Laurent spoke with the pupils, answered their questions and signed autographs. And Christophe enjoyed the experience: "It was good fun. I did feel under pressure though; it was worse than playing football!"
Full story here: www.echo-news.co.uk/theblues/3949270.Les_Bleus_pop_into_to_parlez_Francais/