It may be a massive long shot — or more likely a light-hearted publicity grab – but Robbie Fowler claims he is doing his best to convince Wayne Rooney to join him at Perth Glory.
Fowler, a former England striker and a legend at Liverpool during the height of his career, claims he spoke to the Manchester United star about joining Perth during a recent two-week holiday back home in the UK.
Rooney is on the lookout for a new club after a serious falling out with Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona are the favoured new homes for Rooney.
But in what is proving to be a PR bonanza for the Glory, Fowler is using his star power to attract Rooney’s attention.
“It’s probably only just come out lately about Wayne Rooney (wanting to leave) but being in the football know, I found out a couple of weeks ago,” Fowler said.
“So I just had to go home and see whether he would be interested in coming to Perth.
“And the signs were good. Really pleased with the chat we had and we’ll see where it takes us.
“He’s very, very interested. I told him what a lovely place it is.
“I told him everything about the city. So he’s umming and ahhing at the minute, but it’s looking good mate.”
Fowler’s tone was serious during the short audio interview on the Perth Glory website.
But it’s safe to say the bid for Rooney’s services is little more than a PR exercise for the embattled Glory, who are reeling after five straight losses and the recent standing down of coach Dave Mitchell.
While Glory owner and mining entrepreneur Tony Sage is a mega-rich man, even he would be spitting cornflakes at the money needed to lure Rooney, who reportedly earns $A144,755 a week in his current deal at United.
And with Rooney still under contract, a Glory spokesman was quick to point out the club had not made an official approach to the soon-to-be 25-year-old.
Perth found themselves in hot water last year when media reports suggested they had approached former England striker Kevin Phillips, who at the time was under contract with Birmingham.
“Well if and it’s a big ‘if’ Wayne Rooney was out of contract and Robbie Fowler could pull some strings, we would love to have him at Perth Glory even as a guest,” Glory deputy chairman Lui Giuliani said.
“If I said four years ago that Robbie Fowler would be playing for Perth Glory I’m sure many people would have had a laugh.”
While Rooney is pie in the sky stuff for Perth, their ambitions for a top-four finish this season remain a reality despite their record losing run.
The Glory are just three points adrift of fourth spot and will fancy their chances in Sunday’s home clash with winless Sydney FC, who sit last on the table with just four points from 10 outings.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Mathew Leckie played a pivotal part in Melbourne City claiming an 8-nil win; playing a role in several of his team's goals.
The loser of the Sydney Derby will be under immense pressure entering the final three matches of the season.
A good performance from Michael Ruhs, scoring twice to beat Macarthur and doubling his season goal tally in the process.
Sydney moved into fourth with their point but Glory's finals hopes are now officially extinguished.
Anthony Caceres is a player with immense talent and has a fantastic work rate, broke the deadlock against the Mariners in the 74th minute.
The Wanderers coach admits he has stuff going on in his personal life, and insists he has full support of playing group.
