Wilkinson has signed a two-and-a-half year contract with Jeonbuk who currently lead the K-League with nine matches to go this season.

The 27-year-old central defender aditted he will miss Central Coast after playing in every A-League season for the Gosford-based club since the A-Leagie began.

"It has been seven years with the Mariners and I've loved every minute up here," Wilkinson said on Wednesday. "I love the team, I love the club, and that's what has made the decision so hard.

"But there was always a part of me that wanted to play overseas and this offer was in the too-good-to-refuse category.

"I'm leaving a great club behind (but) Jeonbuk are a very good team that has a very good set-up, so that made the decision a bit easier."

Wilkinson returned from Korea yesterday to break the news to the Mariners after spending a week with Jeonbuk to discuss personal terms and get a feel for the area.

Wilkinson becomes the third key player to leave the Mariners for Asia in the past seven months with striker Matt Simon already in Korea and defensive midfielder Rostyn Griffiths having moved to China, while young playmaker Mustafa Amini has joined Borussia Dortmund in Germany.

Central Coast's head coach Graham Arnold today insisted ther club could do little about the moves.

"Alex has been a great servant for this club for a very long time and we are disappointed to see him go but at the moment Australian clubs simply cannot compete with the money on offer in other Asian leagues," Arnold said.

Wilkinson is the Mariners' games record holder with 172 matches and will remove a huge chunk of experience from the Central Coast line-up.

But Arnold believes he has two youngsters ready to take their former captain's place in the centre of defence.

He added: "We have two Australian youth internationals in Trent Sainsbury and Zac Anderson at the Mariners who, given the opportunity alongside someone as experienced as (Dutch veteran) Patrick Zwaanswijk, can do a fine job for us next season."