The 23-year-old joined the Edinburgh outfit from Adelaide United in the off-season and has already made a positive impact in three appearances at left-back, with a superb set-piece goal and an assist.

Garuccio started Hearts’ league opener last weekend, a 4-1 win at Hamilton Academical, and is likely to be in the line-up on Saturday against Scottish champions Celtic.

The Adelaide-born defender has risen through Australia’s under-age ranks and it’s easy to mount a case for him as a future Socceroos left-back if he finds his feet in Europe as a regular at Hearts.

Aziz Behich is currently Australia’s first choice left-back, while James Meredith, Alex Gersbach, Brad Smith and Jason Davidson have all laid claims in recent times but not cemented the spot, leaving the door ajar.

Garuccio, though, is reminded by tales from his Australian teammates Ryan Edwards and Oliver Bozanic that his time in Europe has only just begun and progress isn’t always linear.

“It’s still so early,” Garuccio told FourFourTwo. “The season has barely started.

“In football, one week is a long time, let alone thinking about what can happen in a few months’ time. I need to focus on staying grounded.

“If I’m playing well and consistently there’s always that possibility but it’s not what I think about now. I want to focus on doing well for the club.

“It’s a dream for every young Australian player but there’s so many good players and good left-backs out there. If it were to happen, I’d be over the moon but if not, I’m focusing on my club.”

He added: “Speaking to Ryan and Oli and hearing their past experiences at other clubs and hearing how lonely it can be sometimes, it shows how it can change.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of other Australian boys who’ve been in Europe as well. I think I don’t realise how lucky I’ve been and how different this can be to other European experiences.”

Garuccio’s move to Scotland came about after interest from the Jambos following the closure of the January transfer window.

Hearts and Garuccio’s agent re-opened discussions once Adelaide United’s 2017/18 A-League season ended, with the move progressing quickly from there.

Garuccio said Hearts boss Craig Levein offered no guarantees but had made him feel wanted.

“You see so many Aussie players go to Europe and not get the game time they wanted,” Garuccio said.

“The biggest thing for me is game time. No coach or club is going to promise you game time. You have to earn it and play well.

“The chats I had with the gaffer was, if I do well there’s an opportunity for me to play. Once I came over I wanted to put my best foot forward to get into that team to play as many minutes as I can.

“That’s the major goal for me. From there if you can start building on your performances, with the team doing well, anything can happen after that.”