Mandic released a statement this morning saying all deals were now off after being angered by statements by the FFA over the weekend revealing details of a proposed marketing contract.

Kewell was looking for a 30/70 split of increased away game revenues if he returned to the A-League to be paid by the FFA for making Harry the face of the A-League next season.

But in the wake of the leak, on the eve of Kewell making a final choice between Victory and Sydney FC, Mandic has pulled the plug.

"Last Saturday we informed FFA that it was not possible to do a deal for Harry Kewell to come back to Australia," Mandic revealed.

Today Victory insisted they had not given up hope.

"We are extremely interested in securing the services of Harry Kewell," said Victory managing director Richard Wilson this afternoon. "Our offer is with Harry and his management.

"The consideration of that deal now rests firmly with them. As has been the case for the last six years, we won't be going into any specific detail regarding any of the negotiations with Bernie.

"We are very hopeful that Harry will be playing for Melbourne Victory. It's very much in Bernie's hands. We have put a very strong proposal to bring Harry to Melbourne Victory.

"We remain very hopeful."

He added: "We are not under any impression that any deal's done until it's signed.

"Bernie is acting in the interests of his player and it's very much about Bernie making a decision where they want Harry to play and if it's Melbourne Victory. We hope it is.

"But certainly we haven't signed anything today."

Wilson refused to discuss the FFA's marketing deal with Kewell or the row that blew up over it at the weekend.

"My understanding is that the FFA are having a press conference this afternoon and we'll leave that to them to talk about their interests in Harry and their negotiations with Harry," he said.

"Our negotiations with Bernie are very different. Bernie is there to act in the interests of his player. It's a matter for Bernie as to why he would come out and say those things.

"But that's his right and that his interests and we respect that and have no problem with that."

He added: "We don't believe anything in negotiations of this nature, in particular with someone as important as Harry and where his future is going to lie. 

"There are no done deals, there's been no guarantees.

"It's simply a case of we put our best foot forward on behalf of our members, our fans our stakeholders to give us the best opportunity to secure one of the greatest players who played for this country.

"We would love to have him to play here at Melbourne Victory and we're really hopeful about that."

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.”