MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Manchester United teen James Overy has not played any senior club football but Australia coach Tony Popovic says the defender could make his World Cup squad next year.
Popovic has included the 18-year-old in his squad for friendlies against Venezuela and Colombia as the Socceroos build toward the 2026 finals in North America.
"He's worth having a look at," Popovic told reporters.
"I'm very open minded about what that looks like for the immediate future and long term."
The right back played in last month's under-20 World Cup in Chile but has yet to feature in United's senior team despite being highly regarded.
"Watching him closely in Chile, I was impressed," Popovic said.
"We have good contacts at Man U, so we know what he’s doing at training, we know how much he trains, how much he trains with the first team.
"He’s getting games with the under-18s, the under-21s, and he's in the process where he's getting called up (to first team training) a lot more often."
The Socceroos meet Venezuela on Friday in Houston, Texas before playing fellow World Cup qualifiers Colombia in New York next week.
Overy is among seven uncapped players in the squad as Popovic looks to build depth before the World Cup.
Another is Al Hassan Toure, the older brother of striker Mohamed Toure, who has six caps for the Socceroos.
Sydney FC forward Al Hassan scored a recent hat-trick for the A-League team, and Popovic said staff were impressed with the 25-year-old's power and speed.
"(He's) a little bit different to what we've got," said Popovic.
"We want to see now in our environment how that looks. We're also aware that he didn't have a great pre-season in terms of his fitness and how much he trained.
"He has shown glimpses in the A-League so far which we feel has potential to maybe be selected for the World Cup squad. And if not, something for the future."
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
