Robbie Fowler Weighs Up Major League Soccer Move

Robbie Fowler is considering a move to Major League Soccer in the summer after holding preliminary talks with New England Revolution coach and former team-mate Steve Nicol.

Despite being described just this week as Liverpool's best finisher by manager Rafael Benítez, Fowler's future at Anfield is looking increasingly uncertain, with Andriy Voronin set to arrive in the summer and Benítez still pursuing another striker. Fowler's Liverpool contract is currently set to expire at the end of the season, and Nicol would be only too keen to offer him a fresh start in the MLS.

"We'd be interested in Robbie," said Nicol today. "But at the moment the first thing is the financial side. We've spoken, but as of yet nothing's been settled. He's really just dipping his foot in the water here. It's something he's thinking about. He's getting his ducks in a row. Whether he gets a contract at Liverpool or whether he moves on, he's dipping his foot in the water."

The Revolution have been one of the most consistent teams in MLS in recent seasons, reaching the MLS Cup final in each of the last two seasons, only to suffer defeats at the hands of Los Angeles Galaxy in 2005 and Houston Dynamo last season. But with star player Clint Dempsey having moved to Fulham in January, Nicol knows there is a need to rebuild, and has money generated by the Dempsey deal available to invest in wages.

Nicol - who fended off a $1m offer from Celtic for midfielder Shalrie Joseph this winter - is in a strong position to make an impact signing using the designated player slot, the mechanism which allowed the Galaxy to sign Beckham to a contract which could be worth up to $250m in salary and endorsements over five years.

"Through the sale of Clint we have some money available," he said. "But the problem we have is that, because of the type of money David Beckham has got, a lot of people think everybody has that kind of money which is not the case. At the present time speaking to some people we're pretty much miles apart in terms of the financial side. We're certainly interested in getting somebody in, but we're not going to do anything stupid.

"We're not going to sling ridiculous amounts of money at just anybody. We need to find a player who is going to come in and be a leader, show some of the young guys what it's about, and be able to do something on the field. If we do get someone in we're going to be looking for quite a lot from them."