Western Sydney Wanderers have signed six-times capped Socceroos attacker Chris Ikonomidis for the remainder of the A-League season.
Ikonomidis joins the Wanderers on loan from Italian Serie A club Lazio.
A Wanderers statement said Ikonomidis would arrive “imminently” in Sydney to bolster coach Josep Gombau’s attacking stocks.
Ikonomidis was handed his international debut in 2015 by former Australian boss Ange Postecoglou in a friendly against FYR Macedonia.
But the 22-year-old has struggled to break through at club level and has spent the past two seasons out on loan – first to Serie B outfit Salernitana, then to Denmark’s AGF.
Ikonomidis was assigned a senior squad number at Lazio this season but with the Simone Inzaghi-coached club flying high in third position in the Serie A – behind only Napoli and Juventus – his chances of first-team action have been limited.
His only first-team appearance for Lazio was in a Europa League clash against French side Saint-Etienne in late 2015.
The temporary shift to the Wanderers – made official on transfer deadline day – presents the Cronulla-born winger, who came through the ranks at the Sutherland Sharks, with an opportunity to get his career back on track.
However, he would need to truly light up the A-League to impress new Socceroos coach Bert van Marwijk and have any chance of breaking into World Cup calculations.
josh
Guest
Same same. He's the type of player we should have across the park, it's glaringly obvious we'll never win anything whilst certain players are still with WSW.
Post_hoc
Guest
I am very happy with this