Perth Glory are reportedly looking to bring former star Nikita Rukavytsya back to ME Bank Stadium on a late-season loan move.
According to the West Australian, coach Dave Mitchell is exploring bringing Rukavytsya, currently playing at Dutch league leader FC Twente, back to Perth to partly cover for the expected loss of the Glory's three Socceroos players during the January transfer window.
The Glory stand to lose forward/midfielder Mile Sterjovski, skipper Jacob Burns and defender Chris Coyne just a few weeks before the A-League finals as all three get loaned overseas in order to ensure they're match fit and available for Australian World Cup selection in June.
As the A-League finishes in March, potential Socceroos squad members playing in Australia will need to play elsewhere in order to maintain the standard required for selection by coach Pim Verbeek.
Verbeek has repeatedly said he will only consider players who are appearing regularly for their clubs and this attitude seems to have conspired against Rukavytsya, who has been unable to break into FC Twente's domineering side this campaign.
Rukavytsya was subsequently overlooked by Verbeek as cover for injured Australian striker Josh Kennedy, who withdrew from the Socceroos squad to play Oman this Saturday and was replaced by Sydney FC's Alex Brosque.
Glory chief executive Lui Giuliani has reportedly said Rukavytsya would still be a perfect replacement for striker Sterjovski, as he knows the club well and thrived under Mitchell's coaching, scoring 10 A-League goals last season.
Mitchell, though, acknowledges the uncertainty hanging over his Socceroos will impact on the club's long-term planning and its chances of making the A-league finals this season, but says he's already going all-out looking for replacements.
However, he said he would need clarification from Football Federation Australia (FFA) regarding the marquee player rule, whereby a player is paid outside the salary cap, in order to bring in someone like Rukavytsya to replace Sterjovski.
"We've got to make sure and we clear this with the FFA that if Mile Sterjovski moves on and moves to another club, albeit for a loan period, that we can actually bring someone in to cover him," Mitchell said.
"People have said you're only allowed one marquee player, all right Mile is the marquee, but if Mile goes can we get another one in."
"While the rules say you're only allowed one, it's a scenario where that's got to be cleared."
Last week Mitchell said he was hopeful the FFA would agree to this as the World Cup and the Australian-based players' issues with national selection was an exceptional enough circumstance to bend the marquee player rule this season.