FORMER Sydney FC midfielder Terry Antonis has been confirmed as the latest player to cross the Sydney divide, signing for Western Sydney Wanderers on Friday.

Due to arrive back in Australia on Friday night, Antonis has penned a deal with the Wanderers.

Foxsports.com.au revealed the 23-year-old, who has been in Greece with PAOK and Veria, had signed with Tony Popovic’s side.

He could be available for the January 14 Sydney Derby against his former club, adding further spice to the game.

The midfielder’s last Derby involvement was scoring the winner in an epic 4-3 victory for the Sky Blues, and follows on from Vedran Janjetovic’s signing with Wanderers.

Antonis, who was part of Ange Postecoglou’s Asian Cup squad last year, has seen his career stall since moving abroad, struggling for game time and with injuries in Greece’s Super League. The talented midfielder can use an A-League stint as a way of rekindling the performances that excited Australian football fans, while also adding another creative, technical option to the Wanderers’ midfield stocks as they bid to improve in 2017.

Terry Antonis is mobbed by teammates and fans after scoring the winner for Sydney FC against Western Sydney Wanderers in 2015. Source: News Corp Australia

His return to Australia midway through the season comes after interest from Wanderland was first signalled in July. It continues an unfortunate streak for Antonis in his pursuit of a career abroad. FIFA rules prevented a move to Everton as a teenager, injury quashed a move to Parma in 2013 and then his PAOK stint, also riddled with injuries, was not helped by the fact the men who signed him – technical director Frank Arnesen and coach Igor Tudor – were both gone by February 2016.

Terry Antonis, left, Mark Bridge, right. Source: News Corp Australia

Meanwhile, A-League legend Mark Bridge is close to a return to the competition.

Foxsports.com.au has been told that the 31-year-old, who left the Wanderers to play in Thailand with Chaingrai United this season, looks like returning to the A-League, where he sits fifth on the all-time list of scorers with 58 goals.

The Wanderers, who just let Kerem Bulut leave the club, are an obvious candidate given the burden now being shouldered by Brendon Santalab and youngster Lachlan Scott, with the club definitely in the market for at least one, if not two strikers in the January transfer window.

Should Bridge return, he would be in a position to bring up a century of appearances for the club he joined as a foundation player, after a distinguished A-League career with Newcastle Jets and Sydney FC previously.