An Olympian and Jamaican track superstar is in talks to join Austin's newly formed United Soccer League team.
United Soccer League announced it's coming to Austin and is set to introduce a team name, logo, coach and a few of its players on Aug. 3.
It's been revealed that one of those players could be Usain Bolt, 31, the retired Jamaican sprinter and world record holder in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 4 x 100 meters relay.
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Bolt has been in negotiations with Austin's USL team for several months and is also looking into the Central Coast Mariners in Australia, according to USL Austin general manager Roberto Silva.
"We started looking a little bit more and studying his career, his personality, and Bolt has a lot of the characteristics on him and his profession and his life that we want for our franchise," he said.
Bolt, who retired from his track career in 2017, is mostly known for his skills on the track, but he's expressed interest in becoming a soccer player.
"His soccer style suits what we want to do. Of course, he still needs to improve. He's not ready for professional soccer. But we believe that we can make him get ready," Silva said.
Silva told KVUE he's been negotiating with Bolt's agent for the past few months.
"His lifestyle also fits a lot to what Austin is. The kind of person he is, you know, how happy he is, his personality. He looks like he's an Austin guy," he said.
Although Australia's team is offering Bolt more money, Silva said, there's still a chance he could pick Austin.
"Our proposal to Bolt is much more than just a one-year contract for him to play," Silva said. "I think we really believe that he can become an important icon to the franchise, to the city, even to Texas overall, and even maybe he'll be an important figure on U.S. sports overall."
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