Asian clubs raid top A-League clubs for stars - report

Asian clubs are about to raid the cream of Australia's A-League, with strikers Joel Griffiths and Archie Thompson likely targets, reports said Saturday.

Newcastle Jets' forward Griffiths, 29, looks certain to join his younger brother, Ryan, at Chinese side Beijing Guoan, who have been drawn in the same group of this year's AFC Champions' League, the reports said.

The Jets, last season's A-League champions, are reportedly keen to have a clause written into the deal preventing Griffiths from playing against the Jets, who travel to China for their opening match at the Beijing Workers' Stadium on March 10.

The Sydney Morning Herald said the Jets are also about to lose former Olympic team skipper Mark Milligan, who is believed to have finalised terms for a three-year deal with another Chinese side, Shanghai Shenhua, who will also play in the ACL.

Four others players have been linked to Asian clubs in the past week include Melbourne Victory's Thompson, teammate Roddy Vargas, Sydney FC utility Simon Colosimo and Adelaide United skipper Travis Dodd.

Dodd was late last year scouted by Japanese champions Kashima Antlers and Colosimo has been linked to Shanghai Shenhua, the newspaper said.

The Herald said the catalyst for the Asian interest in Australian players is the new 3 + 1 rule introduced for the ACL, which provides an incentive for each competing club to recruit at least one import from an Asian Football Confederation member country.

Australian players are in great demand because they remain relatively cheap given the restraints of the A-League's salary cap, it said.

The A-League, along with the Major League Soccer in the United States, are believed to be the only competitions in world football to put a ceiling on player payments.