The Sky Blues were linked with ex-Chelsea and Liverpool superstar Fernando Torres earlier this week before he opted to join J.League club Sagan Tosu.

Big-name foreigners Andres Iniesta and Peter Crouch have also been linked with A-League moves this off-season.

Sydney are understood to be capable of spending big after receiving sizable transfer fees for star imports Adrian Mierzejewski (Changchun Yatai) and Bobo (Alanyaspor).

And they have a history of signing marquees, including Alessandro Del Piero, Marc Janko, Benito Carbone, Juninho, Kazuyoshi Miura and Dwight Yorke.

Milos Ninkovic is the only visa player currently contracted with Sydney FC, leaving the club with plenty of room and options to add a foreign marquee or guest player.

“The beauty of this club is we’re always open to those things,” Townsend told FourFourTwo.

“The funds, in the past as we’ve demonstrated, will be made available if the right opportunity presents itself.

“We’re definitely not going to throw money at high risk options.

“We’ll be prudent in how we assess opportunities and if we feel they’re the right opportunities then we’ll spend the money.”

Sydney supporters adored Del Piero during his time at the club

Australian clubs’ capacity to sign top foreign players to boost the A-League’s marquee appeal has dwindled in recent years with the rise of the cashed-up Asian leagues and USA’s Major League Soccer.

The A-League’s inability to attract big-name talent has arguably led to a decline in key metrics such as TV viewership and match attendances.

Townsend said Sydney, as a club, was eager to help the A-League correct those metrics by being progressive in recruitment.

“Absolutely. Sydney FC are always wanting to be progressive, get out there and do things which are going to drive the club and the league forward,” Townsend said.

“I’ve been sitting on a committee of CEOs with the FFA to assess those types of things. If any opportunity comes to add a guest player that we think will affect those metrics in a positive way and it’s affordable we’ll definitely entertain it.”