He joins club captain Ashley Dunn as the two overseas players for the 2018 campaign.

Freddi trained with the main group for the first time this pre-season on Thursday night and is excited to be back.

He becomes the 12^th player from this year’s squad to sign on under new coach Elliot Jones.

“I’ve felt very welcome since I’ve been here which was one of the keys to my decision,” Freddi said.

“I had a nice chat with Elliot (Jones) and I like the way he thinks and the way he teaches the group.

“You have to bond as a team and that’s what we have here.”

Freddi scored six goals in 13 appearances for Murray after crossing from Richmond mid-year and believes he will have even more to offer next season.

“It will be very different, I’ll be here from the beginning and have a really good pre-season,” he said.

“I believe we have a strong squad, we have a long pre-season with six or seven more weeks before the first game and we’ll be fit for it.

“The last couple of games I was sore and I was doing a lot of physical work as well.

“This time I can focus on myself, challenge myself and be dedicated 100 per cent to football.”

Jones couldn’t be happier to welcome Freddi back to the club.

“He’s an incredibly popular figure amongst not only his peers, but also our supporters and the junior players, everyone loves watching him play,” Jones said.

“Off the park, Gonz is incredibly quiet, he’s humble and an absolute gentleman, but on the field he’s an absolute animal.

“He has high volume, high work rate, high pressure, he makes defenders make mistakes, he’s just want we want in the front third.

“He’ll really complement the way we want to play next year.

“Testament to Gonz is the fact he went back home to his family for a few weeks and we’d been training for over a month, but came back in for his first session last (Thursday) night and he was in the top-three for the running.

“That gives you an indication of the professionalism and the nick he’s been able to come back in.”

Freddi has also been appointed head coach of Murray’s Bright Red Academy next year and will look to develop the next generation of talented stars on the Border.

He will take over the program, which was led by former coach James Coutts, in January, training twice a week to help develop skills for children to get them ready for careers in the NPL.

Jones is still piecing together the senior squad with more signings expected in the coming weeks.

“It’s a strong group, it’s a familiar group and we’re really looking forward to getting stuck into next year,” Jones added.