Tim Cahill appears close to joining the A-League, with reports that he has agreed in principle to sign with Melbourne City and news that FFA boss David Gallop has met his management.
The veteran Socceroos' striker has been strongly linked with City for months, amid speculation about his future, as he nears the end of his contract with Chinese side Hangzhou Greentown.
FFA has pulled out all the stops to get Australia's most-marketable face to the competition.
With a new guest player role tailor-made to fit Cahill outside City's salary cap and existing marquee spots, things are moving fast.
Cahill has reportedly knocked back a contract extension with Hangzhou that would have taken him through to the end of 2018.
In a further development, Gallop revealed on Thursday he had met the 36-year-old's management on Wednesday and spoken to the player himself that night.
It lends credibility to reports that a framework has been drawn up and is awaiting consent from the governing body to contribute to the deal from its targeted marquee player fund.
It's been reported the contract could be worth up to $4 million a season.
"Positive talks [are] ongoing with Tim," Gallop said. "I met with his manager yesterday; I spoke to Tim last night.
"It's not appropriate to say more than positive talks are ongoing.
"I've said before we'd love to have Tim playing in the A-League - I believe it's the right time in his career."
Freshly appointed head of A-League Greg O'Rourke said the Australian game would benefit from bringing home local stars who had made their names abroad - but only those of a certain stature.
"It's more important that those players we bring back are the players like the Tim Cahills of the world, the ones who can really make a difference to the expansion and financial viability of the whole league," O'Rourke said on Thursday after FFA announced he would fill the role vacated by Damien De Bohun.
"The ones who can drive engagement and more interest from the media.
"If you think it should be where ageing Socceroos return to finish their careers as a statesman, I don't think that's correct.
"But if you bring back people like Tim Cahill, who can really make a difference in the marketing of this league, absolutely you'd do anything within your power to be able to do that."