Manchester United’s James Overy, 17, in the frame for Australia World Cup spot

James Overy has not yet played a senior match for Manchester United or international football, but Australia coach Tony Popovic is considering the full-back for a World Cup spot.

Overy, who celebrated his 18th birthday on Sunday, has been called up to the Socceroos squad for November’s international friendlies against Venezuela and Colombia.

The right-back, who also qualifies to represent Scotland through this mother, played for Australia in last month’s under-20 World Cup in Chile.

“He’s worth having a look at,” Popovic told reporters, as cited by Reuters.

“I’m very open minded about what that looks like for the immediate future and long term.”

Overy, who began his career at Perth Glory, joined United last year from Australian side Newton Abbot Spurs and has represented the Premier League club’s youth teams since.

Overy has regularly featured for United’s under-18 side (Anthony Devlin/Manchester United via Getty Images)

“Watching him closely in Chile, I was impressed,” Popovic said. “We have good contacts at Man United, 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.”

Under head coach Ruben Amorim, United’s 3-4-2-1 formation does not include a natural right-back, although Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui play in that position by trade.

Only one Australian has ever played for United’s first-team — former goalkeeper Mark Bosnich had two spells with the club, making 38 appearances.