ADELAIDE United has clinched the signature of exciting left sided player Craig Goodwin.

The club is expected to announce Goodwin’s return to his home town this week after Newcastle Jets agreed to release the Socceroo on Friday.

Goodwin, 22, is destined to become the 17th SA born player in the current Reds squad.

He is tipped to join his new Reds teammates at training on Wednesday for the first time but it’s uncertain if Goodwin will take part in Adelaide’s locked-doors friendly against Melbourne Victory at Coopers Stadium on Friday.

But Goodwin’s signature has added more credence to Reds coach Josep Gombau’s long-term plans.

“Our vision is that in three years’ time, before we finish our (coaching) contract, is to play with 18 South Australians and four foreign players and to be successful,’’ Gombau said last week.

“This is our vision and now we are not far away; we have 14 or 15 players from South Australia they have good talent and we just need to work.”

Goodwin’s return to SA wouldn’t be out of place in Britain’s popular but now defunct soccer comic strip Roy of the Rovers.

The former Munno Para City junior was rejected by Adelaide United’s youth team more than four years ago but that only fuelled his desire to prove his critics wrong.

He was offered a contract with Scotland’s Inverness but it never eventuated due to the club being relegated from the Scottish Premier League in 2009 and privately coached by former Reds and Socceroos striker Paul Agostino and ex-German Bundesliga player Andre Meyer at an Adelaide-based football academy.

But after playing with SA NPL club Raiders, Goodwin backed himself and decided to take a punt playing for Victorian club Oakleigh Cannons in the hope of attracting A-League interest.

He was scouted and signed by John Aloisi when he was boss of Melbourne Heart — now Melbourne City — before Newcastle Jets snared Goodwin in 2012.

Goodwin then caught the eye of former Socceroos boss Holger Osieck, who capped him during last year’s East Asian Football Championship Cup, not long after former English Premier League club Reading showed some interest.

Originally published as Good win for Adelaide United