The 33-year-old Victorian arrives in Australia on Saturday and will link up with his new teammates on Monday afternoon when they return from their away match against Perth Glory.

Grella has been working on his fitness with a personal trainer in Italy during the past four months after enduring an injury-plagued stint at Blackburn Rovers in the English Premier League.

The one-year deal will reunite the defensive midfielder with his former Green and Gold teammate John Aloisi who has made a solid start to his senior coaching career at the expansion club.

A spokesman for Heart told told au.fourfourtwo.com that Grella had been on the club’s radar for several months.

“He was here in July and used Melbourne Heart’s facilities,” he said. “He didn’t train with the team as some people have said but he was here and did a bit of his own training at La Trobe.

“Obviously he’s got plenty of contacts at Melbourne Heart.

“What we can now confirm is that he’ll be touching down in Australia early Saturday morning and will undergo a medical and we’ll see where we go from there.”

Contract details are still to be hammered out but it is understood Grella would not be a marquee signing.

Skilful on the ball, Grella earned 46 caps for Australia and was part of the golden generation that took Australia to the 2006 World Cup after a 32-year hiatus.

He spent a decade playing in the Italian professional leagues, including eight seasons in the Serie A with spells at Empoli, Rotino and Parma, before joining Blackburn on a four-year deal in 2008.

Grella left Rovers at the end of last season having made only nine appearances in his final two years at the club.

Heart said the veteran of two World Cup campaigns was a proven leader and ideal role model and mentor for the club's developing youngsters such as Ben Garuccio, David Vrankovic and Mate Dugandzic.

Grella's decision to put pn to paper on the weekend adds another high profile name to a star-studded A-League line-up that includes Juventus legend Alessandro Del Piero, Emile Heskey and Shinji Ono.