Socceroos great Cahill likely to join ISL outfit Jamshedpur FC

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Bengaluru, August 29: Australia's all-time top scorer Tim Cahill is likely to join Indian Super League (ISL) outfit Jamshedpur FC for the 2018-19 season.

According to reports in Australian and Indian media, the Socceroos great, who was with England's Second Division side Millwall, is in advance talks with Jamshedpur FC club management and a decision is expected in a day or two.

"He has been on our radar for quite some time and we have been negotiating the move for quite a few weeks," a club source was quoted as saying in the media reports.

The 38-year-old, who has scored 50 goals from 107 matches called time on his stellar international career after the conclusion of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, in which the Socceroos crashed out in the group stage, without winning a match.

It marked a sad end to Cahill's international career. He spent much of the tournament in Russia on the bench as he was left out of opening two fixtures against France and Denmark by interim coach Bert van Marwijk, though he did earn his 107th cap when he replaced Tomi Juric in the second half of their 0-2 loss to Peru.

If Cahill joins the ISL, he will become the second big marquee name from Down Under to ply his trade in the cash-rich league after Alessandro Del Piero, who had played for Delhi Dynamos in the inaugural season in 2013-14.

Andrew Barisic (Kerala Blasters) and Tolgay Ozbey (Goa FC) are some of the other Australians to have figured in ISL, while the current runners-up Bengaluru FC have Erik Paartalu in their ranks.

Cahill, the former Melbourne City striker has had a stellar club career and is perhaps best known for his time at Everton, where he spent eight seasons and became one of the Premier League's most dangerous goal-scorers.

He also had stints with China's Shanghai Shenhua and Hangzhou Greentown and Major Soccer League (MLS) outfit New York Red Bulls.

After his international retirement, as speculations mounted about his future, Cahill had ruled out the prospect of an A-League return, saying he intended to live in America, fuelling further speculation the striker was looking to move back to MLS.

Currently Cahill is in the US and tweeted pictures of him watching the US Open tournament which is under way at the Flushing Meadows in New York.

If Cahill joins Jamshedpur FC, it could provide a much-needed boost to the club, which scored the ISL's second lowest amount of goals in the 2017-18 season.

Meanwhile, the Socceroos, under new coach Graham Arnold, will host Arab nation Lebanon for the first time in an international friendly at Sydney's ANZ Stadium on November 20 and it is mooted as a farewell match for Cahill, though his participation is yet to be confirmed.

(With inputs from Agencies).