WANTED MAN

Aussies will make bid to lure Brown Down Under

AUSTRALIAN A-League aspirants Western Melbourne are preparing an ambitious bid to lure Celtic captain Scott Brown Down Under.

Football Federation Australia plan to announce which two of eight hopefuls have won the race to swell the A-League from ten clubs to 12 on October 31.

And newcomers Western Melbourne are prepared to offer former Scotland captain Brown a three-year deal to become their marquee signing if their application to start playing league games in October 2019 is accepted.

Out of contract at Parkhead next summer, the 33-year-old is currently in talks with chief executive Peter Lawwell over an extension to his current deal.

Celtic are understood to be aware of the overseas interest in Brown, but hope their captain will commit to the

challenge of pushing for ten-in-a-row, with conversations also beginning over a future coaching role. ‘Myself, the gaffer and Peter Lawwell have been chatting and it seems to have gone well,’ said the Celtic skipper earlier this week. ‘I am just concentrating on playing. I’ll do my badges in the summer but I’ll see how long my legs last before I think about moving upstairs. It’s a great honour to be playing at the club for so long and for them to be helping me out with a coaching role.’

Sportsmail understands, however, that Western Melbourne have a wish list of high-profile players coming out of contract with a view to persuading them to move Down Under next summer. Top of that list is Brown and it is hoped a change of lifestyle will appeal to the midfielder and his family after 17 years in the SPFL and a career which has seen him win eight Scottish titles, four Scottish Cups, five League Cups and 55 Scotland caps. A blueprint for a 15,000-seat, state-ofthe-art stadium and training complex is already in place, while the search has begun for a coach who can deliver their ambition of winning an A-League title should the club secure the green light from Football Federation Australia a week on Wednesday. In the past, the A-League has managed to lure the likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Dwight Yorke and Shinji Ono as marquee signings, with Brown’s former Scotland teammate Ross McCormack currently starring alongside athletics superstar Usain Bolt for Central Coast Mariners.