On the eve of his likely World Cup debut, Barcelona are reportedly interested in 18-year-old Socceroos defender Lucas Herrington.
The report is a significant acknowledgment of the teenage centre backs meteoric rise.
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Having taken the MLS by storm this year with Colorado Rapids, Herrington made his international debut in March and is now in line to start alongside Harry Souttar and Alessandro Circati in Tony Popovic’s back three against Türkiye in Vancouver on Sunday.
Herrington started alongside Souttar and Circati in Australia’s friendlies against Mexico and Switzerland in recent weeks and has defended the likes of Lionel Messi in the American league since joining from Brisbane Roar.
It seems Popovic is not the only one whose head was turned by his string of impressive performances.
MLS insider, who works for The Athletic, posted on social media that Barcelona are among a number of clubs interested in Herrington.
No Australian has ever played for the Catalan giants, who won La Liga in the season just gone.
Herrington had previously been linked with English Premier League outfit Everton as well as freshly relegated West Ham, but the thought of the Queenslander gracing the Nou Camp is mouth watering for Australian football fans.
He has come with big wraps.
Almost two years ago, then Brisbane Roar boss Ruben Zadkovich dubbed the teenager “the best defender in Australian football”.
Popovic may pivot from his back three from the friendlies by replacing Herrington with the experience of Cameron Burgess – who played every single minute of the English Championship season with Welsh side Swansea City.
But if the manager sticks to his guns, Herrington will become the youngest Australian to start a World Cup match – easily breaking Adam Taggart’s record of being 21 at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Whenever he does set foot on the pitch this tournament, Herrington will become the second youngest ever Socceroo to play in a World Cup – after Garang Kuol in Qatar.
“It would mean everything,” Herrington said in a pre-tournament interview. “I’ve worked my whole life for an opportunity like this.
“It came sooner than I thought, but I’ll try and take it with both hands, just enjoy it and really make the country proud.”
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Socceroos insist Toure in no doubt | 03:43
SOCCEROOS SWEATING ON TOURE FITNESS
The injury or illness cloud hanging over striker Mohamed Touré has been Australia’s big concern heading into Sunday’s clash with Türkiye.
The 22-year-old has been on fire this year, bagging nine goals in 11 Championship appearances for Norwich City after moving to England in January from Danish side Randers.
Touré’s blistering form made him the overwhelming favourite to lead the line for the Socceroos this World Cup, but it is still unsure whether or not he will start tomorrow.
“Two days ago, he missed training. Yesterday, we’re told he did train, but we didn’t see vision of him actually out on the park,” Fox Sports News’ Luke Doherty reported from Vancouver.
“His teammates said he was out there but when Football Australia released some vision, there was a little bit of him in the gym, but not out on the field. His teammates again, said that he did train, but that was a closed session to the media.
“So, we do wait and see.
“Tonight, we’re going to see they’re final training run and we will see for ourselves if Mo Toure is out there on the grass.”
The teammates’ comments Doherty referenced were from Jacob Italiano and Aziz Behich after Milos Degenek made the press pack laugh a day earlier by repeating that “Mo is expected to train tomorrow”.
“Mo was there, Mo was fit, Mo is healthy,” Italiano told reporters.
“It’s all good.”
Behich added: “He looked good.
“Great to have him back amongst the boys.
“He’s fine, running about full of energy, so it was nice to see that.”
The nation now will be keeping its fingers crossed that he is good to go.
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‘WHY NOT?’: SOCCEROOS DARE TO DREAM
In his third World Cup, veteran defender Aziz Behich is eager to get off to a winning start for the first time.
The opening game has been a struggle for the Socceroos since the 2006 team defeated Japan in Kaiserslautern.
Australia have lost to Germany, Chile and France twice in their tournament openers across the nation’s last four trips to the World Cup.
Having seen the momentum created by tournament co-hosts Mexico with their 2-0 victory against South Africa to kick-off the tournament, the Socceroos are determined to not be on the back foot for the remainder of their group matches this time around.
“It’s important to start well because you’ve only got three games, and you want to put your best foot forward early and put other nations on the back foot,” Behich, who is likely to come off the bench throughout the tournament, told AAP.
As for expectations beyond Türkiye, Popovic’s side are looking to make history.
“We’ve got no limits. We’ve set no bars – the bar’s got to be high,” Behich said.
“Obviously, what we did in the last campaign, set the standard, but I think we have a squad now to surpass that. And why not?
“But you need to get off to a good start, that’s for sure. And we have an opportunity to do that in Vancouver.
“So look, it’s a game at a time, but definitely we’re here to go deep in the competition.
“That’s the mentality the coaches have, and they’ve put into the players – and us as a playing group, we’ve spoken about we want to be the first Aussie team, obviously, to win a knockout game as well.”
Harry Souttar, who captained the team in their last outing against Switzerland, stressed that evenness of Group D – which also contains the United States and Paraguay – means the door is open for Australia compared to other editions where powerhouses like Brazil, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and France have been in the same group.
“The group’s really tight,” Souttar said.
“I’m sure each team is going to be thinking that ‘we can top this group. So that’s the challenge this year, compared to the last.”