FORMER Chelsea striker Mikael Forssell is in Sydney FC's sights for a guest stint next season as the club seek to add both glamour and goals for the coming campaign.

The 30-year-old is currently clubless - though still playing for the Finnish national team - and is having a trial at championship side Leeds United this week.

But if that falls through, sources in Europe say his representatives have discussed a 10-game stint with Sydney, though there are concerns over his fitness - he has suffered a recurring Achilles injury and various knee problems during his career. Sydney currently have filled their five visa spots, so Forssell would be limited to a guest-player stint, where nationality is irrelevant.

To bring in an overseas marquee, Sydney would have to pay out one of their current foreign signings, with club sources suggesting that is almost inconceivable.


As The Daily Telegraph reported yesterday, Sydney also have high hopes of landing Brett Emerton as an Australian marquee, with sources suggesting that his club Blackburn would countenance releasing him.

Forssell, a compatriot of Sydney striker Juho Mäkelä, has a strong CV, having spent seven years at Chelsea from the age of 17 - though he was loaned out to various clubs during that time.

Eventually he signed for Birmingham for £3 million, spending three years at St Andrew's before the club was relegated and he was released to join Hannover 96 in Germany. In total he scored 37 goals for Birmingham in 101 games and has notched 25 goals in 76 games for Finland to be the country's second-highest scorer.

That record earned him his trial first at West Ham and now Leeds this week, with United manager Simon Grayson telling local media: 'He's a bit short of match fitness but he's shown the qualities we've seen in him before."

An agent unconnected to the deal suggested a stumbling block for Sydney may be the FIFA rule that limits players to playing for two clubs in a year from July to June - the short-term nature of a guest stint would leave a player limited to one further deal in that period.

Nonetheless, A-League officials say they have been encouraged by Football Federation Australia to use the guest player stint, one that Sydney have used twice before - bringing Japanese veteran Kazuyoshi Miura in 2005 and Benito Carbone a year later.

Sydney's pre-season continues tonight with a game against Bankstown City Lions at Jensen Park, while Newcastle Jets will face Lake Macquarie in their own warm-up encounter at Macquarie Field.