Graham Arnold has backed Nestory Irankunda's good start to life with Bayern Munich, with the Australia boss delighted with the teenager's first few months at the Bundesliga giants.
One of the most exciting prospects produced by Australian football in living memory, Irankunda, 18, completed a move from side Adelaide United to Bayern during the offseason on a deal reported to be worth €3.5 million including add-ons, which would smash the outbound Australian national league record.
Accompanying Vincent Kompany's squad on their tour of South Korea, the South Australian has since remained with the Bavarian giant's first team rather than being loaned out; on the bench in their 4-0 DFB Pokal win over SSV Ulm 1846 last week and featuring on Tuesday in a 4-0 friendly victory over Swiss side Grasshoppers.
"It's been a great start for the kid," Arnold said on Wednesday. "[Australia assistant coach] René Meulensteen went to Bayern Munich to visit the kid and to see how he was and he's in great spirits. He's so happy.
"The move so far has been excellent for him. I've been watching his games when he does come on or when he does play ... and he says he still pinches himself that he's training with this calibre of player.
"The kid is only going to learn and get better from that. It's great that he's fitted him very well and very quickly."
Also eligible to represent Tanzania and Burundi, Irankunda earned a maiden international call-up for the Socceroos during June's international window, starting a 2-0 win over Bangladesh in Dhaka, before netting a first international goal in his side's 5-0 win over Palestine in Perth.
He had previously been left out of Australia's under-23 side for April's AFC U23 Championships by the national setup, citing concerns around his development and wellbeing. But Arnold, speaking at the announcement that Australia would host a November World Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia in Melbourne, said he would have no hesitation in calling the youngster up in the months ahead.
"For me, the most important thing is we get our strongest squad here," Arnold said. "It's a FIFA window and clubs have to release -- that's the power of these FIFA windows. So it is what it is. And the boys, we need everyone here, and the best players that are fit and available and ready to go.
"I'll be interested to see the difference in him in just three months -- since the Bangladesh and Palestine games -- where he was very impressive. I think there will have been a lot of work on his fitness levels. I think there'll be quite a lot of work in the gym for him.
"Over there in Germany, they're playing two or three games a week, and he's got to get used to that, where, obviously, back here, it's one game a week, and those types of changes are significant, but his body will change for sure."
Irankunda is one of several Australian players who have made a strong start to the new European season, with midfielder Jackson Irvine set to captain newly promoted Bundesliga side St. Pauli, central defender Harry Souttar finally securing much-needed game time with a loan move to Sheffield United, and defender Alessandro Circati making his Serie A debut with Parma.
Midfielder Massimo Luongo also started for Ipswich Town in their Premier League opener against Liverpool on Saturday but, for now, Arnold said he remains retired from international football.
"It's fantastic to see Mass doing it," said the coach. "He gave the details three or four months ago why he retired, and that's probably where it's at at the moment. But it was great to sit up the other night and watch him play.
"When I took over in 2018, I had a long list of probably 35 players that had to send a FIFA and the AFC to select 23 [from in international windows]. Today I sent 65 to 70. So that's how much we've grown in the last couple of years.
"That's why I did the Olympic team in 2020 and [now] some of these young boys are getting overseas and fulfilling their dreams. Max Balard at NAC Breda had an excellent game last week -- they beat Ajax 2-1. And now these types of kids are coming through."
Some Aussies abroad, however, remain at the crossroads as the closure of the transfer window looms.
According to reports, Ajdin Hrustic has again been frozen out at Serie A side Hellas Verona while defender Nathaniel Atkinson and midfielder Denis Genreau have been linked with moves away from Hearts and Toulouse respectively.
Among the Socceroos' goalkeeping union, only newly signed Randers custodian Paul Izzo is regularly seeing the pitch, with Mathew Ryan (AS Roma) and Joe Gauci (Aston Villa) starting the season as back-ups, and Tom Glover on the outer at Middlesbrough. A-League Men keepers, meanwhile, remain out-of-season.
"I've been in contact [with players], but I'm not an agent and it's up to their agency to sort that out with what they're doing overseas," said Arnold. "Denis Genreau was on the bench for Toulouse last week, so he's still part of the first-team squad but it's not great for [some] players at this moment.
"But they've got another week or 10 days to fix it and to try and get new clubs if that's what they want.
"I think [the goalkeeping position is] more of a concern for the nation overall because in the old days, we used to have goalkeepers galore.
"Paul is playing over at Randers, and he's doing well.
"So it does make it hard. But it is probably something that the organization and football in general need to look at. I think a lot of those AFL players would have made great goalkeepers."