Popovic started Irankunda in his first match as Socceroos coach, a World Cup qualifier against China in October – just months after he had sealed his move from Adelaide to Bayern – but hasn’t named him in a squad since.

As such, Popovic could understand why some people might think he didn’t like or appreciate Irankunda.

“It’s far from that,” he said.

“We can only pick 23 to 26 players. We monitor all those boys, and we are delighted when they play well. We could give you a summary on every single [club] game that he’s played – and that’s not just him, that’s all the boys. We monitor them, we try and advise them, we want to see them grow and improve and it’s not just for now, it’s also for the future.

“[England] will be different for him than what he just experienced in Switzerland. The game’s a lot slower in Switzerland. The level will go up in terms of quality, intensity, also needing to back up after every three days at that same intensity. But he’s a confident young man. The more experiences he has in different leagues … that can only improve his overall game.”

It would also be wrong, Popovic said, to categorise Irankunda as a “problem child” based on his previous experiences in the A-League with Adelaide United and at youth international level with Australia, or previous comments by his ex-coaches and teammates about his maturity and professionalism – seemingly backed up by his lack of progression at Bayern.

Indeed, Irankunda is not the first prodigy to come through one of Popovic’s dressing rooms with blinding talent and an alleged attitude problem. When Popovic was an assistant coach at Crystal Palace, he remembers the way a 17-year-old Wilfried Zaha used to grind his gears every day.

“[He] was the most ill-disciplined, never came on time, wanted to walk out 10 minutes before training, didn’t want to do the pre-activation … he frustrated me,” he said.

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Dougie Freedman, Palace’s coach at the time, told Popovic he was a bit “blinded” and needed to look at the bigger picture when it came to Zaha, who would go on to become the club’s all-time leading goalscorer in the Premier League.

“Dougie said: ‘Let’s understand the kid a bit more. Where’s he come from? What’s his home life like?’ As soon as Dougie made me go to his apartment and see how the boy was living, it totally changed me. And that’s something that has stuck with me ever since.”

When Popovic was at the Western Sydney Wanderers, he had Kerem Bulut, once tipped to be Australia’s next great striker, but who ruined his career through a mixture of poor discipline and criminal behaviour.

“For me, I just looked at the talent and said, ‘Can I help him?’ And I love that challenge,” Popovic said.