Circati Sr. told Football360 in an interview with journalist Dave Lewis that there is "realistic" interest from a "buzzing market" in his son, who is contracted to Serie A club Parma until the end of the 2028/29 season.
The rumour mill has linked Circati to as many as five other top-flight clubs, with both Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain reported to have compiled scout reports on his development, whilst he has also allegedly attracted interest from Bologna, Inter Milan and EPL club Newcastle United.
Parma is reported to have placed a price as high as AU$41m (€25m) on his signature, well ahead of the AU$32.5m (€20m) offer that Watford have received from Portuguese giants Sporting CP for Aussie winger Nestory Irankunda.
An all-out bidding war would almost certainly push Circati's price ahead of Irankunda's, though there appears to be far less urgency on Circati's part with Gianfranco saying they're "not in a hurry".
“You must remember that Ale has a contract until 2029 and is very happy where he is," he told Football360.
“It’s really up to Parma whether they want to keep him or sell him.
“There have been some talks ... the interest is realistic but talking and things moving forward from there are two different things."
“It’s all very well to just go and change clubs but you need to find somewhere where you’re welcome and feel happy.
“But if tomorrow Real Madrid comes in then you might of course look at things ... if something were to happen now it would have to be beneficial for all parties."
The news of the swirling interest in Circati comes the day after Sporting CP submitted an improved offer for Irankunda that included AU$24.5m (€15m) upfront and AU$8m (€5m) in bonuses, after Watford rejected a lesser offer from Sporting as well as an offer of AU$31m (€19.1m) from La Liga club Celta Vigo.
Watford purchased Irankunda from Bayern Munich for the now-comparatively bargain bin price of AU$6.5m (€4m) and increased their return on the purchase by buying an additional 10% of the sell-on clause from Bayern, meaning the German powerhouse will receive only 40% of Irankunda's transfer price instead of 50%.
Either way, it appears that both players will one day eclipse the existing transfer record for an Australian player, which currently belongs to Leicester City's Harry Souttar, after he was bought by the Foxes from Stoke City for what is now the equivalent of AU$27m (€17m) in January 2023.
Feyenoord's Jordy Bos and Sassuolo's Cristian Volpato are the other two Aussies with a market value north of AU$16m (€10m) according to Flashscore estimations.