Melbourne Heart are believed to be close to capturing Brazilian midfielder Fred it has been reported. The 31-year old former Melbourne Victory star is set to sign with the Heart by the weekend in what would be a major coup for the second-year A-League club.
Heart coach John van 't Schip indicated that he had already signed two Brazilians, adding to current striker Alex Terra, and was on the lookout for a Dutch defender making his five foreign player spots full.
"Right now I have my four foreigners, three Brazilians and Rutger Worm," he told Dutch website voetbalprimeur. "I'm still looking for a central defender. This could well be a Dutchman.
"I try as best as possible to keep abreast of the Eredivisie on the Internet, including YouTube. I get a lot of CDs sent from players from the Netherlands and I view them all meticulously."
Since starring for the Victory in the 2007 A-League Grand Final, Fred left Australia for Major League Soccer club DC United where he had a short loan spell with Wellington Phoenix.
After two seasons with DC, he moved onto Philadelphia Union for the 2010 season before returning to Washington at the start of the current season.
