Red carpet ready for Pele!

Could Pele visit Latics?

ATHLETIC are ready and waiting with open arms to welcome Pele to SportsDirect.com Park.

The Brazil legend (73), a three-time World Cup winner, caused confusion aplenty when a tweet on his official feed was put out featuring Athletic’s club crest.

It was part of a promotional campaign for his new mobile app, which features a competition to win a trip to England — and, apparently, a trial with Athletic.

The original message on Pele’s account was subsequently deleted, but the app bearing his name contains a competition starting in 16 days’ time to win a ‘Pro Club Try-Out’ at Athletic.

For now — in the absence of official confirmation that the prize is genuine — Athletic officials are simply happy to court the publicity of an association with arguably the sport’s all-time best player.

Athletic’s own twitter feed stated: “Is @Pele a Latics fan? #BringPeleToOAFC”

And should the great man choose to swing by Oldham at any point in the future, the red carpet would certainly be rolled out without delay.

“We would love to get Pele down here to SportsDirect.com Park if at all possible,” said chief executive Neil Joy.