HAVING been spurned by Socceroos striker Tomi Juric, Chinese giants Shanghai Shenhua have launched a fresh raid on the A-League with a huge offer for Nathan Burns.

The deal on offer to Burns is believed to be similar to the one Juric turned down last week, with an annual net salary close to $2.5m, but so far Burns’s club, Wellington Phoenix, have refused to consider selling the 26-year-old.

That’s despite Burns having told teammates he has a buyout clause that will allow him to leave Wellington at the end of the season for a small sum.

media_camera Nathan Burns is being targeted by Chinese giants Shanghai Shenhua.

Shangai had agreed a transfer fee of $1.5m for Juric before he changed his mind and pulled out of the deal, and the Chinese side are prepared to offer a significant sum to Phoenix to secure Burns’s release before the A-League transfer window closes in early February.

But frustrated Shanghai officials, who had flown to Australia to execute the Juric deal, have been unable to make any headway with Wellington and will turn their attention elsewhere if Phoenix hold firm to their desire not to sell.

Burns only joined the club in the off-season but is the league’s leading scorer with 10 goals, earning him a late entry to the Socceroos squad for the Asian Cup. It’s understood he has told teammates that he wants to take the deal to secure himself financially, putting him on a collision course with Phoenix if they refuse to budge.

media_camera Tomi Juric snubbed the Chinese side to chase his European dream.

Contacted in Paris, Burns’s agent, Bernie Mandic, declined to discuss any offer for Burns. “It’s been very frustrating watching the way third parties have continually been destabilising Australian players while they are in camp,” he said. “We don’t believe that it is in anyone’s best interests to be conducting negotiations via the media and will not be commenting on mere speculation.”

The offer for Burns comes as fellow Socceroo Alex Wilkinson mulls over an offer of US$1m from an unnamed Chinese club.