Former Socceroo teammate Aloisi spoke with the club-less Neill in the last couple of days to test the waters and see what the Aussie skipper wanted from the rest of the season.

But he said it was now in the hands of the club and the player’s management to put together a deal that would bring the much travelled 34-year-old defender back to Australia.

Aloisi said Neill would be an ideal mentor for the younger players and could prove a decisive addition in the side’s push for a finals berth, with just seven rounds remaining in the regular season.

News of Neill’s imminent return comes just two weeks after another Green and Gold stalwart Vince Grella hung up his boots after trying to revive his career with the Melbourne outfit.

“I don’t sign the players,” Aloisi said. “I get asked if I would like a player and I was asked a couple of days ago if I’d like Lucas Neill.

“Someone like him would be great for our side – captain of Australia, a leader on the park, great to have for the younger boys.

“That was one of the main reasons we spoke about Lucas because he would be able to help the young boys develop as players.

“We’ve got quite a few in David Vrankovic, Jeremy Walker and Sam Mitchinson at the back and we saw how good Adrian Madaschi was for us last year in that little stint he had.

“Now it’s up to the club and up to Lucas to see if he wants to come to us.

"Whether it’s close or not I’m not sure - that’s for John Didulica (football operations manager) and Lucas with his agent to discuss. But he hasn’t signed yet for us."

Neill, who has made no secret of his desire to lead Australia to next year’s World Cup was released from his United Arab Emirates club Al Wasl last month.

Aloisi added: “I had a chat with him a couple of days ago to see where he was at football-wise and what he wanted out of the rest of this season.

“And he wants to play football – he wants to show that he’s still got a good level of playing – which I believe he has and he’s still the national team captain and he wants to win games and I think it’s great for us because we want to make finals.

“And if you make finals you’ve got every chance of doing well in it and going on and challenging to win something – so that is also another reason why I would like to have him.”

Aloisi said Neill had kept his finger on the pulse of the local game and liked what he saw.

“After speaking to him he’s watched quite a few games in the A-League and he could see what we’re trying to do as a team - he likes the way we’re trying to play football,” the coach said.

“As former teammates he knows what I’m going to be like as a person but he doesn’t know what I’m like as a coach.

“All I can say is what I expect from my players and what I’m expecting as a team and the way we want to play and he liked that but now we have to see if he ends up putting pen to paper.

“I’ve said that I would like to have him and it’s up to them to sort them out.”

Neill's fitness was described as “good” but Aloisi said the player was keen to get back on the pitch.

“That’s what I understood when I spoke to him," he said. "That he wants to hurry up and start playing because there’s a game in March for the national team and he wants to be involved in that and needs to play regular football I think if he wants to be involved in that.

“I’m sure he’ll make a decision in the next couple of days what he wants to do.”

Aloisi said it was great for the A-League to have the Socceroos skipper based at home. “I can’t even remember the last time – might even have been Alex Tobin who was the last captain we had based in Australia back in the old national league.

“So it has been a while and I think it will be great for the game, great for whichever club picks him up and good for the Socceroos. He is a big name, a great player and like I said a great leader.”