Martin Boyle's 'unimaginable' rise to the Socceroos

Just six years ago, Martin Boyle was playing for Montrose in the Scottish third-division with the Socceroos a side he barely knew - let alone aspired to play for. 

Yet in a few days time the pacey winger is set to proudly pull on a green and gold shirt having touched down in Australia for the first time this week.

It's a strange twist of fate for a player that's very quickly risen through the ranks of Scottish football, but somehow ended up a Socceroo.

Boyle made his senior debut as a 16-year-old for Montrose against his current club Hibernian in the Scottish Cup and quickly impressed banging in 22 goals across 36 league appearances in the 2011/12 season. 

On the back of that stunning campaign, he earned a move to first-division side Dundee, only to find himself stuck on the bench and subsequently loaned back to Montrose.

Boyle would return to Dundee the following season and score four goals as they earned promotion straight back to the first-division. 

His first real taste of top-flight football wouldn't go to plan however as he failed to score across 18 appearances and was loaned to Hibernian, who were then in the Championship.

Rediscovering his form, Boyle would sign permanently with the club and play a hand in their eventual promotion to the Premiership in 2017 with eight league goals.

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Since then he's regularly been catching the eye and has hit the ground running this season scoring four goals and providing three assists across 11 matches.

While playing briefly for Scotland's U16 and Schoolboy's sides, Boyle has never quite done enough to catch the eye of their senior side with Graham Arnold more than willing to take advantage.

Capable of providing a spark in attack, Arnold has quickly snapped him up for Australia with Boyle's father, who was born in Sydney, making the change in allegiances possible.

With the paperwork out of the way, Boyle is now a very real chance of playing on Saturday against Korea Republic - a moment the man himself admits is pretty hard to comprehend. 

"Being in the third division of Scotland years ago to the climb that's been happening, it's quite unimaginable," Boyle said.

"If you'd asked me a few years ago if this opportunity would ever happen, from the position I was in or where I was, I'd probably have laughed at you.

"It's been a huge rise for myself and long may it continue."