He's the most popular player in the A-League - but most Australians will struggle to say his name. According to Sydney FC, the pulling power alone of Reza Ghoochannejhad makes him a marquee signing, and the Sky Blues are popping the champagne corks having brought the Iran star under the salary cap.

A quick glimpse at his online profile explains why. On Instagram alone, 'Gucci' is four times more popular than Tim Cahill. The striker attracts 1.3 million followers, more than the combined sum of A-League stars Keisuke Honda, Ola Toivonen, Adam Le Fondre, Siem de Jong, Steven Taylor and Oriol Riera, despite having never figured in a top-four European league like all those players.

Four times more followers then Tim Cahil: Sydney FC's new star, Reza Ghoochannejhad. Credit:Janie Barrett

For the past six years, Ghoochannejhad has been the star striker with one of the more popular national teams in international football, Iran. Within 24 hours of touching down in Sydney, he was already inundated with shows of support from the tens of thousands of his Australians followers online.

"I’ve had a nice welcome here," he said. "The Iranians are really positive and really happy. I’ve got a lot of things on social media, people welcoming me. It’s nice to start like this."