MELBOURNE City has pulled off another stunning coup, this time signing 100-time Irish international Damien Duff.

But the real bonus for City fans is the fact that Duff, a two-time English Premier League winner with Chelsea, has signed a one-year deal under the club’s $2.55 million salary cap, as revealed by the Herald Sun last week.

That means the Manchester City-owned club still has the capacity to sign a superstar international marquee player, with his wages to be paid outside the cap.

Melbourne City coach John van ‘t Schip said the Irishman, who captained his country at Euro 2012 and scored a goal in the 2002 World Cup, would bring a wealth of experience to his new team.

“We’re excited to have a player of Damien’s quality and experience for this season,” van ‘t Schip said.

“We believe he can offer international standard quality on the pitch and will also be a great professional example for our younger players.

“His career speaks for itself. He has achieved almost everything at club level and has been a great player at an international level too.

“He comes to us straight from the English Premier League with Fulham, so he has been playing at the highest level against top teams and top players.

“When we met with Damien, he was excited about the opportunity here and keen to work with us to help make this project a success.”

ADD ANOTHER! THE A-LEAGUE’S BIGGEST SIGNINGS

media_camera Damien Duff during his Chelsea days.

The club also announced young guns Stefan Mauk and Ben Garuccio had signed contract extensions.

That City was able to fit such a highly credentialed player under the salary cap is understood to be due in part to the fact that it had set aside money to re-sign last year’s international marquee, Orlando Engelaar, on a reduced deal.

Engelaar, a popular figure with the club’s fans despite missing the first half of last season with a broken leg, has returned to Europe.

City has now signed 18 senior players for next season.

It can sign another five, including two more foreign players.

One of those will be the international marquee, who is expected to be yet another big name.

An Australian marquee player also needs to be signed. Josh Kennedy and Mark Bresciano have both been contacted by the club.

Spain’s all-time leading scorer David Villa last week signed a short-term deal that will see him play A-League games between October and December before reporting for pre-season training at sister club New York City FC in the United States.

Duff has only ever played professionally in England.

And since helping Blackburn re-win a place in the English Premier League in 2001 the left-footed winger has played only one club game outside of the country’s top flight.

Duff scored 27 goals in 184 league games for the Rovers in a combination of the EPL and Championship, before securing a dream move to Chelsea in 2003 where he would go on to score 14 goals in 81 league games across three seasons.

While at Stamford Bridge Duff won back-to-back Premier League titles in 2004-05 and 2005-06 and also played crucial roles in the club’s European Champions League campaigns.

He then spent three seasons at Newcastle (five goals in 69 league games), but after turning out for the Magpies just once after the club was relegated to the Championship in 2009 he was snapped up by Fulham where he would go on to make 119 league appearances and score 15 goals.

Mauk’s new deal ties him to City until the end of the 2015-16 season and Garuccio’s ensures he’ll be at the club until the end of 2016-17.

“Ben and Stef have worked hard for us and are two of the A-League’s exciting young players,” van ’t Schip said.

“We hope these players will learn a lot from the likes of Damien both on and off the pitch about what it takes to perform at the highest level as a professional footballer.”

City squad so far: James Brown, Connor Chapman, Damien Duff, Mate Dugandzic, Ben Garuccio, Jonatan Germano, Jason Hoffman, Nick Kalmar, Patrick Kisnorbo, Stefan Mauk, Jacob Melling, Aaron Mooy, Massimo Murdocca, Iain Ramsay, Andrew Redmayne, David Villa, Tando Velaphi, Robbie Wielaert, David Williams.

Originally published as Duff joins Melbourne City within cap