According to the Sydney Morning Herald's Rachel Clun, Usain Bolt is in discussions for a trial with the Australian A-League's Central Coast Mariners. These negotiations have apparently been taking place for "four or five months."
"There's still a lot of work to do in regards to understanding exactly how the deal would work out and how things would look," said the team's chief executive Shaun Mielekamp. "But things are very positive at the moment so we're really excited that looks like a good six week trial period that we'll be able to facilitate."
That came in addition to a statement from the team, which said that they were indeed negotiating with Bolt, but it also came with an attempt to contain expectations by stating that said negotiations "require an initial six-week-trial period and no contract is guaranteed."
Agent Tony Rallis remarked that Bolt's foray into soccer is no publicity stunt. "He is dead-set serious to be the best he can possibly be. We think that his best will be enough to play or play a part in an A-League competition," Rallis said. The 8-time Olympic gold medalist retired from competitive sprinting just under a year ago. Since then he's participated in a few soccer exhibitions, and (this past spring) trained with Borussia Dortmund:
Mielekamp stated that he could debut for the Mariners at some point in the 2018-19 season, which spans 27 matches, and goes on from October 21, 2018 to April 26, 2019. If all does go through (which appears likely) you might need to venture beyond your local listings if you're interested in watching Bolt play.
