Adelaide United remain hopeful of capturing James Troisi, who is training at Juventus with his immediate future in limbo.
The attacking midfielder impressed on loan at Melbourne Victory last season, earning a place in the Socceroos' World Cup squad.
Linked with a temporary switch to Western Sydney Wanderers FC earlier in the off-season, the Reds claim they have not given up on luring the playmaker back to Australia.
"We're still very interested if a deal can be worked out," Adelaide director of football Michael Petrillo told the Adelaide Advertiser.
"We know he's gone back to sort out some issues with Juventus."
In a separate interview with the News Corporation publication, Troisi's father confirmed the Coopers Stadium club had made a firm approach but was unable to shed light on his son's likely destination.
"They did offer James a contract but I don't know exactly how much it was because the offer went directly to (agent) Frank Trimboli and Juventus," Alby Troisi said.
"Probably for Juve and Frank to knock it back means it probably wasn't what they were looking for.
"But I think James probably wants to stay in Europe, but at the end of the day if he's got an opportunity to come back to the A-League, it depends on all the offers they put in front of him.
"He's training but exactly where he is going next we don't know at the moment.
"James went back to Italy last Friday, and at the moment Frank Trimboli and Juve are trying to work a few things out."