Socceroos midfielder Jason Culina has confirmed he will return to former club PSV Eindhoven ahead of the World Cup, but he will not play for the Dutch giants and will instead undergo a rigorous training regime.
Culina completed his duties with Gold Coast United by taking out its Player of the Year Award on Monday night, a fitting recognition for a dominant debut season in the Hyundai A-League.
He confirmed at the awards night that he would head back to the Netherlands on April 5 and commence a five-week training program with his former club in a bid to maintain his fitness ahead of the showpiece tournament in South Africa.
Culina, who captained the Socceroos in the recent Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia, is expected to be in the Pim Verbeek's first XI for the opening World Cup match against Germany in Durban on June 13.
"The decision to go to PSV was made with Pim's blessing and we both thought it was a very good idea for me to train at a very high level with a top European club," he said.
The 29-year-old confirmed he had offers from several clubs to play over the past few months, but believes a return to training with PSV will be sufficient to keep him in shape for the World Cup.
"I had the option of going to Europe in January and to the Middle East or Asia a few weeks ago, but I declined those offers as PSV was always in the back of my mind," he said.
"My decision was made easier by the standard of football in Holland and the quality of the training, which with all due respect, is higher than what I would find in Asia or the Middle East."
"I know the area, I know everyone there and they know me, so the transition will hardly be felt at all, which allows me to just slip right in and concentrate on doing what I'm there to do."
Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg praised Culina's influence in the club's first season.
"Jason came back to Australia with an enormous reputation, which brought with it all sorts of different pressures," Bleiberg said.
"He made a big decision career-wise and has handled the expectation that was heaped on him like the true professional he is - letting his football do the talking."
Michael Thwaite was voted the Players' Player of the Year and Members' Player of the Year.