The Chinese Super League club, which failed in its attempt to lure fellow Australia striker Tomi Juric with a $10 million three-year offer last week, is prepared to pay Burns $2.5 million net per season and the A-League's top scorer has told Wellington chiefs he wants to go.
But despite Burns being out of contract in June, Phoenix, which is riding high in the A-League thanks in no small part to his 10 goals, has so far refused to budge, with Shanghai only prepared to pay around $1 million.
With no obvious signs of a thaw in the impasse, Australian agent Ante Alilovic, which is negotiating with Phoenix on Shanghai’s behalf, is already poised to look elsewhere as the club steps up its chase for a striker.
"Shanghai has tabled a very substantial offer to Nathan Burns and the indications are he is happy to accept it," said Alilovic.
"But the situation is that Shanghai are not willing to match Wellington’s asking price, which for a player soon to be out of contract they believe to be somewhat unrealistic. The figure will need to be in a far lower price than that."
Former Young Socceroos striker turned player agent Alilovic was also behind the proposed deal for Juric which fell over at the eleventh hour when the western Sydney Wanderers striker decided he wanted to focus on Europe, rather than Asia, as his next career move,
Alilovic said of Shanghai’s interest in Burns, who started for Australia in its 1-0 loss to Korea Republic last Saturday: “They like Australian players because of their work ethic and industry but they can also quickly become turned off when you have players accepting deals and then rejecting them in the advice of others (as was the case with Juric).
"They are currently questioning whether to stick with the Australian market because of this. They find it hard to fathom that you may have a player in Australia being paid $200,000 to $300,000 gross and being offered say $1.5 million net only for negotiations to break down, perhaps believing the selling club sees those wages and then ups their asking price.
"The clubs look at the wages, rather than market value, and that’s becoming a major issue.
"Clubs in China can go to France, Belgium or Germany and pick up quality players for the same price. Clubs in the A-League are trying to cash in but salary has nothing to do with a transfer fee. Clubs need to be a little more realistic in their expectations."
The respected Transfermarkt website, which details player valuations across the globe, rates Burns, 26, at $1.2 million.
Meanwhile, fellow Socceroo Alex Wilkinson is understood to have rejected a $1 million move to newly promoted Chinese Super League club Shijiazhuang Yongchang FC from K-League Classic champion Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.
