NEWCASTLE Jets have their sights set on fringe Socceroo Nathan Burns and hope to lure the AEK Athens attacking midfielder back to Australia during the January transfer window. Jets management were tight-lipped yesterday but the Newcastle Herald understands that talks are advanced with the 23-year-old former Adelaide United star. Burns has seven months to run on his contract at AEK, but the club has hit hard times financially and are understood to be prepared to let him go next month. The Jets have a place on their roster, but any deal is likely to hinge on the contract situation with marquee player Jason Culina. The Jets are seeking to have Culina’s three-year $2.65million contract set aside after he required a second and season-ending operation on his troublesome left knee. The Professional Footballers Association is negotiating a settlement with the club on behalf of the Socceroos midfielder, whose father, Branko, was sacked as Jets coach on the eve of the season kick-off. Burns, who has played seven games for the Socceroos, the last of which was at the Asian Cup in January, is ideally suited to the up-tempo high-pressing game that the Jets have adopted under Gary van Egmond. Van Egmond said he was unaware of any talks with Burns but would ‘‘definitely’’ be interested if the striker was looking to return to the A-League. ‘‘If it was a possibility, of course we would be interested as we would be with any quality player,’’ the coach said. ‘‘He is good with both feet, can dribble past people ... he has a lot of very good attributes.’’ Van Egmond believed a return to A-League and regular football would improve Burns’s national team aspirations. ‘‘He is definitely a quality player and I can see the advantages of him coming back to the A-League,’’ van Egmond said. ‘‘He is out of the Socceroos loop at the moment. [Coach] Holger [Osieck] has shown that if you are playing here in Australia you have a great opportunity to represent your country. Matt McKay and Mitch Nichols are proof of that.’’ Burns, who can play wide in a wide role or as a second striker, has made 23 appearances and scored one goal since joining AEK in 2008. He spent a season on loan at Kerkyra FC, hitting the target eight times in 31 games, but has has since returned to AEK. He set up a goal but was replaced at half-time in a 2-1 loss to Belgium club Anderlecht in a Europa League group match in Athens a week ago. The Jets have five strikers – Michael Bridges, Francis Jeffers, Ryan Griffiths, Jeremy Brockie, Labinot Haliti – off contract at the end of the season. Griffiths is the club’s leading goal scorer with five. Brockie has three. Jeffers missed the 3-1 win over the Melbourne Victory on Saturday with a minor groin strain. The Englishman was back in full training yesterday and is expected to return to the squad for the F3 derby against Central Coast Mariners at Bluetongue Stadium on Saturday. ‘‘Had it been a final I would have played,’’ the former Everton star said. ‘‘Speaking to the staff and the physios they thought it best I had a rest. ‘‘It is a long season.’'

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