Clubs queue for in-demand Burns

Australia star Nathan Burns looks set to activate a release clause in his two-year deal with Wellington Phoenix unless terms can be agreed on a marquee contract beyond this season.

Wellington Phoenix star Nathan Burns has attracted a bevy of suitors (AAP) Source: AAP

With concrete offers on the table from clubs in Europe, Japan, China, Korea Republic and the Middle East, the 13-goal striker is at the crossroads at a club he has helped propel to the A-League finals going into the final round of the regular season.

Phoenix, which rejected a $1.2 million offer for Burns from Shanghai Shenhua during January's AFC Asian Cup 2015, now faces losing its prize asset for barely a third of that amount with several clubs willing to pay the estimated $350,000, which would trigger his exit.

Fellow Australia international Tim Cahill subsequently signed instead for the Chinese Super League Shenhua in a one-year deal that will earn him approximately $6 million.

Burns, 26, has turned heads for club and country recently and is only behind Sydney FC's marquee striker Marc Janko (16) in the race for the A-League Golden Boot.

A Phoenix team-mate confirmed Burns, who this season is Wellington’s highest-paid player within the salary cap, would only seriously consider remaining at the club if he is afforded marquee stature.

Previous A-League marquees have earned in the region of $1 million-plus per season, which gives Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick - under whom Burns has thrived - and the club's board a big decision to make.

When approached to comment on Burns’s future beyond this season, his Paris-based agent Bernie Mandic would only say: "After the belting Ernie Merrick dished out to us last time do you seriously believe I am going to make any comment?"

Mandic was referring to Merrick’s displeasure when reports first surfaced in January of Shanghai Shenhua's interest in Burns.

The two-time A-League title-winning coach claimed at the time the reports were riddled with inaccuracies on the back of misleading information from player agents.

Burns's previous Asian stint - with K-League club Incheon United - yielded just three appearances in two injury-hit seasons and was labelled the wrong move to the wrong country by critics.

But he has no regrets over his spell there and would be more than willing to return to a region which he sees as an emerging powerhouse.

He is also open to the Middle East while a return to Europe would rank highest on his agenda if the right deal could be agreed.