9 other 37 year-olds who would kill it in the A-League

Australian midfielder Chris Ikonomidis is trying to convince his former Lazio team-mate Miroslav Klose to play in the A-League before he retires.

While the Socceroos attacker has returned to his parent club after being on loan last season at Sportive Salernitana, Germany legend Klose, 37, has ended his five-year  stint with the Biancocelesti with 64 goals to his name – and an indelible legacy left at the club.

He remains without a new home as he ponders his next move, amidst interest from the likes of Eintracht Frankfurt.

Ikonomidis is trying to influence that decision, revealing he has been hounding the prolific striker about an A-League swansong, before hanging up his boots.

"He’s still in fantastic form and great shape, just his experience alone is incredible and for Australian football to have him in A-League would make huge waves," Ikonomidis said of Klose, who bagged 121 goals in 307 matches for Kaiserslautern, Warder Bremen and Bayern Munich and remains his country’s all-time top scorer.

“I can see him duplicating what Del Piero did in the A-League, maybe even not even surpassing it.

"I spoke to him quite a lot last year about the A-League and was trying to convince him to come and give it a shot. He said he’d definitely think about it.

“He’d be a great mentor for the league in general.”

Ikonomidis is looking to make this a breakthrough year as he again teams up with his former Primavera coach Simone Inzaghi, who has landed the Lazio gig on a full-time basis for this season after Marcelo Bielsa resigned two days after his appointment last month, accusing the club of failing to back his player recruitment policy.

The Lazio legend, who took charge of the first team following the dismissal of Stefano Pioli in April until the end of last season, knows Ikonomidis well.

“I had him in the youth team the season before last where I scored 20 goals and we won a couple of trophies," he said. "It’s a positive for me and also the team I think to have him as head coach. I spoke to him a few days ago and he said he has a lot of belief in me, so at the moment things are looking good.

“He knows me really well and how to get the best out of me … we won the couple of the titles and I scored the winning goal in one of them, so maybe that helped him also get promoted to the first team (as coach).

"We have sort of grown together in a way. He’s a Lazio legend and a Champions League record scorer with five goals in a game, and he’s a good character.

"He’s really nice guy … he's a relaxed sort of coach who loves the technical side and also the physical side of football."

With Lazio in the grip of austerity heading into the new season, fans are in revolt and expectations are low.

"It’s good in a way because nobody is expecting too much from us but we will surprise a lot of people this year," Ikonomidis said. "I personally learned a lot on loan last year in Serie B and also got a bit more of a taste with the national team against tough opponents like Greece and England. I feel totally different to a year ago.

"I’m a better all-round player, more nature and with more experience behind me.

"It's too early to tell if I will go on loan again but it’s looking pretty likely I will stay instead at Lazio. But you never know what could happen last minute."

Making his mark in Serie A remains the main aim.

"This is one if the best leagues in the world and cracking into that would be hard but would be worth the time and effort," added Ikonomidis, who has a senior Europa League appearance under his belt.

"Once you make this league you are there and amongst it all. We have a talented young squad which can come good.

"We don’t have the big names this year... and will be relying on younger players who maybe have that extra desire to get the job done.

"For me, its perfect opportunity in that sense that my ex-coach is taking over the team and the club has not made that many big buys."