Results may not have gone his way so far in Dark Blue but Dundee wide man Jesse Curran’s impressive rookie season has caught the eye of one of the biggest names in world football.
Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson took over the Philippines national team last month and has looked at calling up the Dens Park youngster.
Twenty-two-year-old Curran, who can play for Scotland or Australia at international level, qualifies for the south-east Asian country through his parents.
He’s played 16 times this campaign for Dundee and has been a bright light in a dark season at Dens Park.
And his pacey driving runs have alerted the Filipino management to his abilities.
Former Hibs and Inverness Caley Thistle goalkeeping coach and now the Philippines national goalie coach Steve Marsella said: “Chris Greatwich, who is one of the assistant coaches within the Philippines national team, first alerted us to the possibility that Jesse Curran has Filipino heritage.
“Another of our coaches, Scott Cooper, then managed to get in touch with Jesse, who confirmed he is eligible to play for the Philippines through his parents.
“We have watched a lot of footage of Jesse and he has done really well at Dundee, especially this season.
“Jesse is a boy with real pace and quality but can also play in a number of positions, as he has shown in his time at Dundee.”
Curran came through the Dens youth system as a central midfielder after joining the club three years ago from Central Coast Mariners, following a trial in 2015.
He’s since developed into an attacking right full-back and was deployed on the right wing by manager Jim McIntyre against St Mirren last weekend.
Curran isn’t the only Scottish-based player Sven has his staff looking at, however, according to Marsella.
He said: “We are looking into others in the SPFL who are eligible to play for the Philippines through parents or grandparents.
“There are one or two other Scottish-based players we have been alerted to.”
Eriksson won his first match in charge on Tuesday, beating Singapore 1-0.
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