Barbarouses has previously featured in the A-League with Wellington Phoenix and Brisbane Roar.
The deal will see the 23-year-old reunited with coach Ange Postecoglou, under whom he was Brisbane’s leading goal scorer when the side won the 2010/11 A-League title.
Barbarouses left the Roar after that triumph to sign a three-year contract with Russian National Football League side FC Alania. He spent the past year on loan with Greek club Panathinkaikos and FC Alania agreed to release him from the final year of his contract.
Postecoglou says he is looking forward to once again working with the Kiwi in 2013/14.
“We are delighted to have Kosta on board with us at Melbourne Victory and he will add even more attacking flair to our team this season,” Postecoglou says.
“Kosta has plenty of pace, great technical ability and is proven scorer, having netted 12 goals the last time he played in the A-League.
“While he’s only 23, he has made over 50 appearances at Brisbane Roar and Wellington Phoenix, so he’s certainly aware of what is requrired to perform at this level, and I know he’s excited to be returning to the A-League.”
Barbarouses will link up with his new Melbourne Victory teammates on Monday.
Smeltz recovering from injury
Meanwhile his fellow All Whites teammate Shane Smeltz has revealed he will miss the start of the A-League season but is confident he will back to his best for both Perth Glory and New Zealand during the 2013/14 season.
The A-League’s all-time leading goalscorer was forced to undergo a hip operation last month, surgery he felt was necessary in order to remedy a nagging problem that had hindered him for over a year.
“It had been an issue for me in terms of both playing and training for around twelve months,” he says. “Basically ever since I was away at the London Olympics with new Zelaand last off-season.
“That was a really busy period for me and that was when I first noticed that I had an issue with the hip and the groin all down the one side. It never really went away and I ended up carrying it all last season.
“The positive to come out of it is that we did find out what needed doing, I got the operation done nice and quickly and two, two-and-a-half weeks later, I’m feeling a lot better.”
While reluctant to reveal a specific date for his return to competitive action, the 31-year-old is keen to get back to finding the back of the net for both club and country.
New Zealand face a November play-off against the fourth-placed side from the CONCACAF region in order to book a place at next year’s FIFA World Cup and Smeltz would love to help put the All Whites in a position to repeat the heroics in South Africa in 2010.
“I’ll be doing everything I can from now on in terms of rehab to be ready as soon as I can, but it’s difficult at this stage to put an exact time frame on it.
“We’ve got an All Whites camp in September which unfortunately I won’t have much involvement with but I’ll certainly be having a chat with Ricki Herbert around that time as we look towards that massive World Cup play-off against Honduras or Panama or whoever it might be.”
For more on New Zealand Football visit www.nzfootball.co.nz

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