Mandic today revealed that Kewell had agreed in principle to terms with both Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC and had been close to making a decision on his destination.

But the 32-year-old's move is now in jeopardy after subsequent negotiations with the FFA broke down when the FFA's head of Corporate Affairs and Communication Kyle Patterson went public with "misleading comments".

Kewell's camp insist they were simply looking for the FFA to pay a share of the equivalent of any increase in crowd numbers at away games where Harry is playing.

In Robbie Fowelr's first season, his away games with North Queensland Fury were even more successful than home games in Townsville - and Kewell was hoping to make provisions to benefit from that factor.

However the FFA were expected to cover those costs as part of its A-League marketing budget, not the away clubs themselves.

Mandic added that if Kewell failed to increase crowds at away games, there would be no payment.

With A-League clubs restricted by the confines of the salary cap, the FFA's complementary package to make Kewell the face of the competition is integral to the former Leeds United and Liverpool forward's move to Australia.

“Last Saturday we informed FFA that it was not possible to do a deal for Harry Kewell to come back to Australia," Mandic said in a stetement to au.fourfourtwo.com today.

"The catalyst for this were the misleading comments from FFA’s Kyle Patterson regarding our negotiations with FFA.

"At no point in time have we spoken with Mr Patterson about anything related to Harry Kewell coming back to Australia. More importantly, as has been the case with all Australian clubs, we have never asked FFA for any guaranteed income for Harry as reported.

"FFA offered to assist in bringing back Harry to play in Australia and asked what it would cost to use Harry to market and promote the sport in partnership with FFA.

"We offered them a better deal than what we have offered the Australian clubs – 30/70 split of additional gate revenue from the away games that Harry plays in for the duration of Harry’s A-League contract.

"If there are no more people coming to the away games that Harry plays in, Harry gets nothing but he is still happy to help market and promote the sport.

"The disappointing thing is that this happened just as we had accepted Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory offers in principle and were in the final stages of Harry choosing his Australian destination.

"From our end nothing will change – if Harry is to play in the A-League he will do it without financial guarantees. Hopefully that can happen in the not to distant future. If not, no hard feelings.

"We would like to thank all the people that anonymously worked so hard to make this happen, not just the Sydney and Melbourne people, but some other A-League clubs that respected the simple principles of privacy and confidentiality.”

Mandic added: "One of the clubs has offered to do the deal for the away games on the 30/70 basis that FFA rejected. Harry declined the offer because he doesn't think that the club he joins should be financially penalised while FFA and the other A-League clubs are making money without making any effort or taking any risk."

The FFA today released a statement justifying an A-League marketing deal with Kewell and hoping a deal could still be done with an A-League club.

“FFA has noted the public comments this morning by Harry’s manager Bernie Mandic in relation to FFA’s offer of support,” said an FFA spokesman. 

“We are satisfied the offer of support by way of a marketing services agreement would be a responsible and prudent way to lift the profile and marketability of the Hyundai A-League and complement any contract Harry may sign with an individual club.  

“The fact remains that Harry Kewell would be a fabulous acquisition for any Hyundai A-League club and would be a great boost for the competition.”