MELBOURNE, Aug. 20 -- Australian football star Harry Kewell on Saturday signed a three-year deal with the Melbourne Victory Football Club.

Kewell will arrive at the club in early September, and club chairman Anthony Di Pietro said Kewell would be ready to play in the Victory's opening match of the season against Sydney FC in Melbourne of Australia on October 8.

"We believe this is the biggest player signing in the history of Australian sport and expect it to create unprecedented interest in the game and our club," Di Pietro told reporters in Melbourne of Australia on Saturday.

"He's coming over in early September ... it's an unconditional agreement, it's not subject to anything. We've got a contract between us."

Kewell is a massive coup for Melbourne Victory, which has been trying to sign him for almost three months, with Di Pietro said signing Kewell will take football to the next level.

"We have been inundated with emails over the past few days and now have 51,000 followers on Facebook, which is more than most Australia Football League clubs," he said.

Melbourne Victory Coach Mehmet Durakovic, who wants to play Kewell behind the strikers as a No.10, is confident Kewell will be ready for their opening match of the season.

"We're very excited. We had a training session this morning and told the players the good news and all the players are over the moon, and so am I," Durakovic said.

"Harry's a true professional. I've known him all my life and if there's one thing about Harry, he really looks after his body. On our first game on October 8, Harry will be there."

Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, that plays in the A-League.

A-League is the top Australasian professional football league run by Australian governing body Football Federation Australia.

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