Options for new North adventure

El Jaish, which last month offered fellow Australia international James Troisi a multi-millionaire dollar three-year deal, has been impressed by North's recent starts for his country, which included last month's World Cup qualifying draws against Qatar in Doha and Japan in Brisbane.

It's understood the 30-year-old, whose Japanese club Consadole Sapporo is hurtling towards relegation to J2 with just four points from 18 games, would command in the region of $700,000 tax free for one season in the Gulf - where Mark Bresciano (Al Nasr, UAE), Sasa Ognenovski (Umm Salal, Qatar) and most recently Matt Spiranovic (Al-Arabi, Qatar) are ensconced.

The numbers are swelled by Australian-born, Uruguay-raised striker Richard Porta who this month signed for Dubai Club in the UAE Pro League.

North, who has been playing at right back for Australia but as stopper for his club, has the option to remain with Sapporo – on a salary roughly half of what he would command in Qatar.

Other possibilities are a switch to promotion-chasing J2 outfit Shonan Bellmare, should it secure a top flight berth, or a return to Europe.

North is contracted with Sapporo until November.

Meanwhile, Heart wing-back Behich's proposed switch to Turkish Super Lig giant Besiktas could stall over his reluctance to accept simply the offer of a trial.

"There is interest and we are looking at our options," Behich's Melbourne-based agent Dragan Jetvic said.

"They want to have a look at Aziz in camp in what would be a trial situation and we are not sure we are going to go down that path.

"It's a big club and it's flattering for him to have that interest.

"There is also the option to stay at Melbourne Heart for another year and improve even more.

"There is also interest from other clubs and we don't know where that will lead."

Behich's parents emigrated from Turkey and while he was born in Australia he speaks fluent Turkish. The 21-year-old has two years remaining on his Heart deal.