Connor Pain and young central midfielder Joshua Cavallo were officially announced as Western United signings, but the Mariners also confirmed Jonathan Aspropotamitis will join the green and black side.

WUFC Assistant Coach John Hutchinson said, “We are very happy to secure Connor Pain.

“Here is a young player that already has accumulated over 120 first team appearances and we believe he offers our new team a lot of options with his pace and ability out wide.

“Joshua Cavallo is another bright star on the Australian football scene and this is a great signing for us. Those who follow Josh will know he is an industrious midfielder that has a great eye for scoring spectacular goals.

"Our fans are going to love him!”

Hong Kong-born Pain, 26, originally began his Hyundai A-League career with Melbourne Victory back in 2012 before joining the Mariners in 2016, while Cavallo, 19 will join Pain as another scoring option from Melbourne City.

The teenager's performances in the Y-League during 2018 earned him a call up to  the Young Socceroos for the AFC U19 Championship Qualifiers.

This morning Pain thanked everyone at the Central Coast Mariners for their support over the past three years.

“This is definitely a bittersweet feeling,” Pain said. “The Central Coast has become a second home for me over the past three seasons but the time has come for me to explore another avenue and it’s certainly a difficult place to leave, I have so many fond memories of my time here both on and off the pitch.

“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Mariners. It was my first time moving away from home when I came here three seasons ago. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many great people and some of my teammates both past and present will be lifelong friends.

“The Mariners offered me a big opportunity to come up here and play more regular football, and at the time being young it was the most important thing.

"For that reason and so many more I’ll be eternally grateful. I would like to extend my thanks to everyone at the club, from the football department to the medical staff and office staff - they’ve all made me feel so at home over my time here.

“Most importantly, I would like to thank the fans. It’s refreshing when you can go to games of football and be supported no matter what, despite the couple of lean seasons we have had.