Elrich has been released by English Premier League club Fulham and speculation has mounted that he will join either the Mariners or Wellington Phoenix in the A-League. The Sydney-native failed to make an impact at the English club with a serious knee injury limiting his chances.

The 26-year-old was a star in the NSL where he worked with Mariners boss Lawrie McKinna at Parramatta Power. Elrich was also brought into the Socceroos under Frank Farina but was on the outer under Guus Hiddink despite being part of the squad that faced Uruguay in the World Cup qualifiers.

Ahmad’s brother Tarek plays for the Newcastle Jets and McKinna was yesterday quoted as saying: “I coached him all those years ago and he’s a good lad. He’s potentially brilliant with his pace and he’d fit in well with the way we play football.”

But Gorman this morning told au.fourfourtwo.com that while he would like to see Elrich in a Mariners shirt, issues such as the salary cap will diminish their chances of signing the speedster.

“The odds of him coming to our club are very remote,” he said.

“My understanding is that he’s finished with Fulham. We would naturally be interested in a player of his talent - he’s an outstanding Socceroo and an outstanding footballer. But we understand that he has a lot of offers and we have not made him a formal offer.

“Naturally for us, as with every A-League club at this time of the year, there would be significant salary cap issues and so really we’re sort of an observer at the moment. We haven’t spoken to him directly. My understanding is that he’s looking for a fresh start to re-invigorate his career and his major goal is breaking back into the Socceroos.

“We’ve got one spot left in our playing roster and if the right player came along that would fit under our salary cap we’d be silly not to look at it. If there was a way we could fit him in we’d be silly not to look at that but at this stage there’s nothing more advanced than that and I’d be surprised if anything happened.”