Socceroos star Brett Holman has reportedly turned down a new contract offer from his Dutch club AZ Alkmaar but is unlikely to be on the move during the upcoming January transfer window.
Socceroos star Brett Holman has reportedly turned down a new contract offer from his Dutch club AZ Alkmaar but is unlikely to be on the move during the upcoming January transfer window.
The 28-year-old, who has been at the current Eredivisie leaders since 2008, comes off contract at the end of the season and is understood to be keen on a move to a bigger league, with the Barclays Premier League or Bundesliga being freely touted.
But Alkmaar technical director Earnest Stewart said the club were not confident of receiving a reasonable offer during the January transfer window for Holman.
"I doubt next month there will be an offer on the table we find reasonable," Stewart told Voetbal International.
On the field, Holman put in a full shift as Alkmaar suffered their humiliating 5-1 loss to fifth-placed Herenveen.
In Japan, Josh Kennedy finished the J-League season as the competition's top scorer with 19 but it wasn't enough to help Nagoya Grampus secure the title.
Kashiwa Reysol became the first team to win the title in their first year after promotion from the second division when they defeated Urawa Red Diamonds 3-1. Nagoya also won on the final day but needed their rivals to either draw or lose.
In the Barclays Premier League, Chris Herd played 59 minutes of Aston Villa's 1-0 loss to Manchester United at Villa Park before limping off with a leg injury.
Meanwhile at Goodison Park, Tim Cahill's long goal-scoring drought extended to yet another week as Everton lost 1-0 to Stoke City in a limp performance.
Mark Schwarzer's Fulham entertain in-form Liverpool at Craven Cottage on Tuesday morning (EDT).
In the nPower Championship, Scott McDonald and Rhys Williams played full games as Middlesbrough beat Neil Kilkenny's Bristol City 1-0. Middlesbrough stay fourth on the table, seven points behind leaders Southampton.
Adam Federici's Reading slumped to a 1-0 defeat away to Blackpool and now slip to 11th on the table while Mile Jedinak returned to the Crytal Palace starting line-uup in the 1-1 draw with Derby County.
Jedinak was an unused substitute in Palace's incredible 2-1 Carling Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United midweek.
Two of Australia's representation in the Bundesliga got game time over the weekend.
Striker Nikita Rukavytsya played the full 90 minutes of Hertha Berlin's 1-1 draw with Kaiserslautern while Mathew Leckie got six minutes of game time in Borussia Monchengladbach-s 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund.
In the UAE, Lucas Neill's Al Jazira stormed to a 4-1 win over Emirates. Marco Bresciano played for the 90 minutes as his club, Al Nasr, beat Al Sharjah 5-4.
In Scotland, Matt McKay failed to even make the bench for Rangers in their 2-1 win over Dunfermline.