Head of the Hyundai A-League Greg O’Rourke has said Football Federation Australia will contact the agent of Andres Iniesta following speculation linking the FC Barcelona legend with a move to Australia.
Spanish publication Sport has reported Iniesta is considering a move to the Hyundai A-League after opting to end his 22-year association with the Catalan giants. There is also speculation linking the 33-year-old to clubs in Japan’s J.League.
In response to the reports, O’Rourke has stated four Hyundai A-League clubs have signalled their intent to make use of the $3 million Marquee Fund, which could be used to lure a player of Iniesta’s ilk.
“We will determine with (the clubs) how this is going to work – do we go out and use $3 million to go and hook one big fish, or three small ones?” O’Rourke told the Australian Associated Press.
“There’s some history that would say that (Alessandro) Del Piero, when he was here with (Emile) Heskey and Shinji Ono was actually quite amplifying.”
Iniesta, who has played more than 600 games for his boyhood club and also scored the winner for Spain in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, will be approached.
However if unsuccessful, FFA will continue to work with Hyundai A-League clubs to draw up a list of marquee targets who meet the threshold to use the centralised Marquee Fund.
“I think you’ll see a lot more of a collaborative approach rather than (the clubs) bringing players to us, which was the previous approach,” O’Rourke added.
