Verbeek has left no stone unturned in his quest to unearth the best Australian talent with England, Scotland and China all visited in recent weeks.

Verbeek, Henk Dutt and Graham Arnold have watched numerous players - some well established, others not so.

The Socceroos coach watched Middlesbrough defender Williams playing for loan side Burnley and then met up afterwards for a chat.

Williams had been widely expected to plump for Wales but Verbeek insists the player approached Australia, not the other way round.

Verbeek said: "He left us a message, that he wants to play for Australia. The first initiative came from him."

The coach said Williams had simply asked to be considered if Verbeek felt he was good enough. There were no guarantees.

The coach watched Olyroo skipper Mark Milligan in action for his club Shanghai Shenhua at the weekend and flies out to South Korea this weekend to see Jade North.

He said: "Mark did well. He was one of the better players in his team. He is happy there."

A trip to Turkey also beckons with the Australian coaching staff looking to check out the progress of Mile Jedinak, Bruce Djite and James Troisi.

Verbeek is also aware that Nick Carle is back in Australia and currently training with Sydney FC. He is glad to see that scenario but would only say that a final decision would be made on a number of potential squad members 'very soon.'

Williams, Carle and Milligan were not the only players to be watched - most fully aware of the coach's presence as well. That brought  added pressure which Verbeek was happy with. Top players must be able to cope with pressure.

Verbeek said Nathan Burns (AEK Athens), Dario Vidosic (Nurnberg), Danny Invincibile (Kilmarnock) and Trent McClenahan (Hamilton Academical) had all been checked out recently.

Overall, Verbeek said he was happy with the players at his disposal with a final squad selection for the World Cup qualifiers due to be made next weekend.

"So far everything is under control," said Verbeek.