Fresh Socceroos convert Cristian Volpato could debut as soon as Australia's pre-World Cup friendly against Mexico, with coach Tony Popovic insisting there's no risk adding the latecomer to the national set-up.
The Socceroos pulled off one of the more stunning moves in recent history by landing Volpato, who defected from Italy.
The Italy-based attacking midfielder will join the pre-camp in Los Angeles on Saturday morning, ahead of the international friendly against the World Cup co-hosts Mexico that night (Sunday AEST).
Volpato, who was born and raised in Sydney and played his junior football at Sydney United 58, Sydney FC and Western Sydney before moving to Italy, represented Italy at U19 and U20 level.
He famously knocked back Graham Arnold's pitch for him to join the Qatar 2022 squad and said in March he was "waiting for Italy", who subsequently didn't qualify for the World Cup.
