Talented young Australian goalkeeper Joe Gauci is on the verge of sealing a dream move to Premier League club Aston Villa, amid a rush of transfer activity in the Socceroos' Asian Cup camp.
Villa are set to break the A-League Men transfer record to secure Adelaide United's Gauci on a deal until 2028.
Gauci will be an understudy to Argentina's Emiliano Martinez, who won the Golden Glove award as the best goalkeeper at the 2022 World Cup.
With Marco Tilio already sealing a loan move back to Melbourne City from Celtic, the Socceroos' camp has turned into a relative hive of transfer activity as they prepare for their Asian Cup quarter-final against South Korea.
Aziz Behich has already moved on loan to Saudi powerhouse Al-Nassr, home to Cristiano Ronaldo, while out-of-favour Leicester City defender Harry Souttar has been linked to a switch to Sheffield United or Everton.
The transfer window shuts at 11pm on Friday in England (10am Saturday AEDT).
Gauci looms as heir apparent to Mat Ryan, including deputising for the Socceroos captain in a pre-tournament friendly against Bahrain.
Ryan played in the Premier League with Brighton between 2017 and 2021, including a short loan stint at Arsenal.
The 31-year-old said he would hold off on congratulating Gauci until the move was official, noting "it's not done until it's done".
However, he said he was delighted for his young teammate.
"If it does end up eventuating, I wish him all the best," Ryan told AAP.
"If it (the move) does work out for him, he's someone that's obviously shown a lot of potential, and he's a great kid.
"He's got a great attitude. He's very professional. He's very mature for his age and technical aspects as a goalkeeper. He's got a lot of talent there.
"So obviously I'd wish him all the best, and if he's wanting to seek some advice on all that, I'm there to be helpful in whatever way I can."
Souttar, meanwhile, is aware he needs to get back playing at club level again, but he has left the wheeling and dealing to his agent while he focuses on the Asian Cup.
"I've kind of said to him, 'just deal with it, I don't want any part of it'," the 25-year-old told AAP.
"My whole concentration is just going to be on this tournament. We want to try and be successful."
Tilio has struggled for game time at Celtic, but has looked sharp at Socceroos training and in recent cameos off the bench for his country.
He returns to City, where he scored 20 goals and made 19 assists in 86 appearances.
