Sunderland veteran Dwight Yorke is set to make a return to Australia's A-League at the end of this season.

The 36-year-old played a pivotal role in helping Sydney FC win the inaugural A-League in 2005, and has been persuaded to finish his career Down Under by signing for the Central Coast Mariners.

Yorke is scheduled to meet Mariners chairman Lyall Gorman in London this week to thrash out the finer points of his contract.

The ex-Aston Villa, Manchester United, Blackburn and Birmingham striker is understood to have already promised Mariners' leading shareholder, Peter Turnbull, that the club will have first option on his services when he leaves Sunderland.

Yorke's agent Simon Bayliff has revealed that money is not the driving force behind the player's desire to return Down Under.

"Dwight has a very good relationship with Peter Turnbull, they have kept in touch ever since he left the club [Sydney FC] and the Mariners will have first option if he leaves Sunderland," Bayliff told the Sunday Sun.