Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat has confirmed the club are interested in signing former Japanese international Keisuke Honda for the upcoming 2018/19 Hyundai A-League season.
The 32-year-old playmaker has been on the radar of the reigning Champions throughout pre-season.
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And with Leroy George having departed the Victorian capital in recent weeks, Muscat says the club are keen to bring in star power for the new campaign.
“Many of these type of marquee players have become available and have been offered to us,” Muscat told Macquarie Sports Radio.
“My immediate reaction is every decision we make is based around football first - not commercial, not marketing, not anything like that.
“When Honda’s name was floated about, not only was I interested, I think everyone was interested because I think he’s still got a lot of football [left in him] and he can add and give something back in terms of football to our competition.
“At this stage, I’ve no comment really to make on where we’re at or what we’re doing ... (but) I’ll give you that and you can read between the lines.”
Honda netted an impressive 37 goals for the Japanese national team after debuting as a 22-year-old in June 2008.
His 98 caps also rank him level with Shunsuke Nakamura in eighth place on Japan's list of appearances.
He became the first Japanese player to score at three FIFA World Cups during Japan's clash with Senegal less than a month ago, before announcing his retirement from international football shortly after.
