Crawley’s CEO Salim Gaygusuz is aware of the interest in Kewell from an Australian-led consortium in negotiations to buy the south-east London club.
And he views it as confirmation of the productive job he’s done in his debut season as a Football League coach in lifting Crawley to 12th on the ladder, and an outside shot of making the playoffs.
“These kind of things will always happen when you have a successful manager,” said Gaygusuz.
“As a former top class player, he was used to being the subject of transfer rumours, and now it’s happening to him as a coach.
“He can deal easily with this sort of speculation and I know he wants to focus on the job at hand at Crawley Town.
“The interest surrounding Charlton is a compliment to him.
“They are a big club but there will be bigger clubs than them who will come along in the future, of that I have no doubt.”
According to the Daily Mirror, the Australian businessmen seeking to buy Charlton from their unpopular owner Roland Duchatelet and want Kewell as the immediate replacement for Karl Robinson at the ninth-placed League One side.
They are one of two consortiums who have tabled takeover bids.
“As a player, Mr Kewell won the Champions League and played at the World Cup, and as a manager I believe he can reach a similar level,” added Gaygusuz.
“But these things happen in time. Mr Kewell has been doing a great for job for us, and we want that to continue.
“It’s good to see him flying the flag for Australia as a coach in England and as long as he’s happy to be with us, we are more than happy to have him here taking us in the right direction.”
Gaygusuz said there had been no formal approach for Kewell from anybody and the Socceroos legend was relaxed and unaffected by any speculation.
“He’s just getting on with his job, and is by no means distracted by any of this,” he added.
“He’s had a career playing in front of big crowds, and many highs and lows in his football life. So this is not something which will affect his dedication to our club.”
Kewell and Gaygusuz will be attending Australia’s friendly against Colombia at Fulham’s Craven Cottage next Tuesday night (Wednesday ADT) for new Socceroos coach Bert van Marwijk’s second game in charge.
