Glory have a full compliment of foreign players this season however Mitchell agreed to take a closer look at Gao who parted company with Wellington in mid-November.

“Leilei wanted to come here to train with us and paid his own way over," said Mitchell. "If someone is committed enough to do that then I’m happy to have a closer look in our training environment.

“He is a quality player and I have been impressed with what I’ve seen when we’ve played against him.

“We are actively looking at our options for next season and to be able to see a player first hand and have them train with the squad is definitely the best way to determine how they would fit into our system.

“Leilei trained well today and I look forward to seeing what else he can offer throughout the week.”

Gao made eight appearances for Phoenix this season, starting in seven matches.