JAPANESE international forward Ryuji Bando - a two-time Adelaide United nemesis - has signalled his intent to kit up for an A-League club once his contract with Cerezo Osaka ends next month.

Bando - capped seven times for Samurai Blue - formed part of Gamba Osaka's 2008 AFC Champions League final side that demolished Adelaide United - 5-0 on aggregate - 3-0 in Osaka and 2-0 at Hindmarsh.

But Bando won't come cheaply, after signing for crosstown rival Cerezo Osaka in 2010.

He is expected to command an estimated $300,000 a season, which won't make him the highest paid football department member of Adelaide should they chase the goalscoring forward.

"His long-time agent does not know anything about this; Bando has kept it quiet but he appears to be working with another Japanese agent who's dealing with Australia," a source said from Tokyo.

"I know he wants to urgently take English lessons and that's a sign that he might be thinking of coming to Australia.

"He has the qualities; he's been a great player for Cerezo this season but his time has come to move."

Bando's A-League interest may well be perfect timing in salvaging Adelaide's bumpy season during January's FIFA transfer window after losing Andy Slory to a shock retirement last week.

With Adelaide set to contest sudden AFC Champions League qualifying matches in February, coach Rini Coolen has said that bolstering his squad may be a possibility, with Cassio also sidelined for at least two months with a left foot injury.

Bando, 32, has scored 10 goals for Cerezo during the J-League season and one in the AFC Champions League in a 4-3 quarter-final win over Korea's Jeonbuck Motors.

And while agents will be floating players to Adelaide during the January market, Football Federation Australia officials weren't too unhappy with Coolen's post-match comments aimed at Friday's referee Matthew Gillett.

Coolen declared Nigel Boogaard's send-off was too harsh during the tedious 0-0 draw with Newcastle Jets at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday.

Boogaard was expelled after earning a second-yellow card for seemingly breaking FIFA Law 12 - dissent by word or action - 25 minutes before time.

Boogaard's suspension has cost him the opportunity to face his former club Central Coast Mariners at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday.

It will be Adelaide's sixth home clash from nine rounds with Coolen again set to put a positive spin on an injury crisis with Egveniy Levchenko (calf), Serginho van Dijk (calf), Dario Vidosic (back) all needing to pass fitness tests before facing second-placed Mariners.

Originally published as Japanese forward looks to Adelaide