Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Keenan has signed with Victorian Premier League club South Melbourne.

The 27-year old has returned to Melbourne where he played one season in the A-League with the Melbourne Victory to sign a one-year deal with South Melbourne.

Keenan joins from Scottish club Hibernian where he was released in August and said he was looking forward to a new challenge in his career.

"The timing's really good. I got back last week; my wife's Australian and South has fantastic facilities and is coached by someone (Vaughan Coveny) I've got a lot of respect for," Keenan told 442.

"I'm 27 and I'm at the so-called peak of my career and I want to play. I've played the last ten years of my life in constant football employment as a pro-footballer learning everything I've learned, and I've missed the atmosphere in the dressing room."

Keenan begun his career with Chelsea in 1999 before joining KVC Westerlo in Belgian and then returned to England to play with Brentford and Eastbourne Borough. In 2006, the Southampton-born Keenan tried his luck in Holland with Willem II Tilburg before joining the Victory in 2007 and then it was back to Europe for a stint with Hibernian in Scotland.