A-League club Western Sydney Wanderers have boosted their defensive stocks by signing Socceroo centre back Matt Jurman for the 2019-20 season.
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The 29-year-old joins from Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad.
Jurman started in the Socceroos last game against South Korea and was part of Australia's 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asian Cup squads.
He has previously played in the A-League for Sydney FC and Brisbane Roar and before joining Al-Ittihad also spent time at South Korean club
"I spoke with (Wanderers coach) Markus (Babbel) many times and those conversations showed that he wanted me at the club, how I fit into his plans and how he wants me to play," Jurman said.
"The past three years overseas has made me a lot stronger, not having familiar surroundings makes you mentally stronger and I've had some great experiences and come back a better player.
He joins another Socceroo representative Dylan McGowan as one of the Wanderers off-season central defensive signings.
The Wanderers also have classy German centre back Patrick Ziegler on their books, though injuries limited him to just six A-League games in his first season, with no appearances after early January 2019.
Without Ziegler, Wanderers struggled for central defensive specialists last season, relying primarily on a makeshift combination of Brendan Hamill and Tarek Elrich.
Wanderers are through to the quarter-finals of the FFA Cup where they will play away to A-League rival Melbourne City on September 18.
Australian Associated Press