Newcastle Jets have placed an order for 5,000 more Emile Heskey shirts after their first batch sold out.

The Australian club, who completed the signing of the former England striker in time for the new A-League season, have also been boosted by 1,000 new fans signing up as members since Heskey's arrival.

The Jets coach, Gary van Egmond, told Foxsports that the high-profile signing was "fantastic … he ticks all the boxes, in a footballing sense with his ability and experience … and from a commercial and marketing point of view. He's going to be a great fit."

Van Egmond said he was hopeful that Heskey would arrive in Australia on Friday in match-fit condition.

"We are obviously all hoping he is going to be ready to go. From my understanding, he's been training at Wigan and has kept himself in really good nick. He's been ensuring that he prepared himself properly for whichever club he decided to play with. But until he gets here, we won't know for sure.

"Everyone's hopeful it's all OK and he's in decent shape but as I say, we can't do anymore at this stage except wait until we see him in the flesh and then go from there."

The club's Swiss defender Dominik Ritter also welcomed Heskey's imminent arrival.

"When I came here, I didn't know much about Australian football," he said. "Then a couple of weeks ago, Del Piero signed [with Sydney FC] and everyone from Switzerland, my family and friends, all texted me saying how great it was.

"Now Emile Heskey is coming to play with me and my team. It's very, very exciting."