HARRY Kewell is close to making a decision on whether he will play in the A-League next season, Melbourne Victory assistant coach Kevin Muscat says.

Speaking on radio station SER, Muscat said: "There have been a lot of twists and turns but, from all accounts, a decision is very close and we will wait with a lot of enthusiasm because what will happen if he does come to Victory will be enormous.



"From a football perspective what he will be able to show the young boys in our team and their education through football will certainly be propelled if someone of Harry's quality does come to the club.'



Kewell is believed to be deciding between signing for either Victory or Sydney FC, despite comments last week by his manager, Bernie Mandic, that he could not see a deal being done for Kewell to play in the A-League next season.



Muscat said that the lesser workload in Australia would help Kewell prolong his career.



"That was the first thing I noticed when I came back from Europe ... the fact that there you play anything from 40- 60 games (a season in Europe) and you come here and you body does get a lot more chance to recover



"We play 27 games .. so from that point of view the body does get a bit of a rest.



"But the one thing we shouldn't question is Harry's football ability because he has been, for me, probably the best Australian player we have produced.



"He still has those qualities and he still has a burning desire to do well.



"So fingers crossed he decides to come to Melbourne and fingers crossed a decision is made soon."



Muscat also went into more detail on why key midfielder Carlos Hernandez will not play against Scottish giants Celtic tonight after returning late from the US following a a trial with Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake.



"Carlos requested to go on trial to the States and the club agreed on a couple of conditions," Muscat said.



"One of those conditions was that he does return on the same date as the rest of the players ... the same date he was advised of before he left.



"He came a week late, so there are on-going meetings at the moment and he will be discplined and the start of it is that he won't be involved tonight."





Originally published as Kewell decision close, says Muscat