Melbourne Heart have confirmed they have signed former Qantas Socceroo Vince Grella on a one-year deal.
Melbourne Heart have confirmed they have signed former Qantas Socceroo Vince Grella on a one-year deal.
Grella, who was born in Melbourne and played in Canberra and Victoria before a decade-long stint in Italy, arrives in Australia this Saturday morning.
However, Grella will not join up with his new teammates until Monday afternoon when they return from their round three fixture against Perth Glory at nib Stadium in Perth.
The 33-year-old defensive midfielder has earned 46 caps for Australia and featured for the Qantas Socceroos at the 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cups.
Grella, who played for Blackburn between 2008 and 2012 in the English Premier League, trained at La Trobe University-s facilities in July and discussions between Heart boss and former Australia teammate John Aloisi have been ongoing since his visit earlier in the year.
Grella has been working on his fitness with a personal trainer in Italy during the past four months, where he spent 10 years in professional club football, including spells with Empoli, Torino and Parma.
A statement from the club this morning read, “A proven leader, Grella captained Parma for the 2006-07 Serie A season and will adopt the mantle of role model and mentor for Heart-s developing youngsters such as Ben Garuccio, David Vrankovic and Mate Dugandzic.
While briefly linked to a move to the club back in July, Melbourne Heart is excited about the opportunity to strengthen its Hyundai A-League squad when Grella puts pen to paper this weekend.”
