Harry Kewell’s prospects of playing in Australia’s A-League have fallen through after a breakdown in talks with the Football Federation Australia, his manager said yesterday.

The former Liverpool star was weighing up offers from Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC and was close to a decision but after commercial talks with the FFA the negotiations broke down, manager Bernie Mandic said.

Mandic said he could not reach agreement with the FFA over a split in any additional gate revenue from away games that Kewell would play in.

The Melbourne Age over the weekend reported that the FFA had offered a lucrative marketing role to entice the former Liverpool player to finish his career in the A-League.

But after talks with the FFA, the deal Mandic and Kewell had proposed to them was rejected, Mandic said.

“As has been the case with all A-League clubs, we have never asked the FFA for any guaranteed income for Harry,” Mandic told a Melbourne radio station.

“The FFA offered to assist in bringing Harry back to play in Australia and asked what it would cost to use Harry to market and promote the sport in partnership with the FFA.

“We offered them a better deal than we have offered the A-League clubs – a 30-70 split of any additional gate revenue from the away games that Harry plays in.

“If there are no more people coming to the away games that Harry plays in, Harry gets nothing.

“Now this was not accepted by the FFA, which is fair enough.”

The FFA yesterday confirmed it had made an offer.

Mandic said the 32-year-old former Leeds United and Liverpool forward was back in Europe weighing up other contract offers with the clubs expecting an answer by today.

Mandic said Kewell was still “happy to play in the A-League”, and suggested the ball remained in the FFA’s court.

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