In career best form, the Brisbane native recently trialed with two A-League clubs – Melbourne Heart and reigning champs Central Coast Mariners.
 
But having put in the hard yards abroad, the former England youth international says it could take time to force his way into local reckoning.
 
Scouted by Reading at 15, the Queensland Academy of Sport graduate has played almost 250 games in England but is a virtual unknown Down Under.
 
“What was quite apparent to me was that literally no one in Australian football in terms of the A-League actually knew that I was Australian,” Young told au.fourfourtwo.com.
 
“But now I’ve been at three clubs in the space of a month and a half – I can now say they’ve had a look at me, they know my name and can keep tabs on me.”
 
Young, 27, may have been hoping for more after a stellar season with League Two side Aldershot where he notched up 50-plus games across all competitions and kept 14 clean sheets in the league.
 
He took home both the Players' Player of the Year and Supporters' Player of the Year awards. In one of the few bright moments of the season, The Shots came close to forcing a replay with Middlesbrough in the fourth round of the FA Cup going down 2-1 to the Championship side.
 
In the end, the Hampshire club was relegated and placed into administration but Young had one of his best seasons between the sticks since coming to the attention of England selectors.
 
Five clean sheets in a row for the Reading youth team caught the eye of legendary England goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence and Young, who has a Scottish father, was capped at U18, U19, and U20 level.
 
“I was very lucky to play with some of the best players of my generation and a lot of them are still playing in the Premier League right now," said Young. "Some of the guys I keep in touch with still.
 
“Wayne Rooney was in my youth team. I used to room with Tom Huddlestone. Bradley Wright Phillips was there, Gary Cahill who’s at Chelsea - a whole bunch of guys.”
 
In May, Young felt it was time to test the waters back home. But trials with no game time gave the goalkeeper little opportunity to show his strengths, such as marshalling a back line.
 
“I think they’ve chosen to go with people who have played in the A-League before,” Young said.
 
“That’s probably quite frustrating for myself being an experienced goalkeeper who’s played in leagues in Europe and is trying to break into a different market.
 
“You’re overlooked for people who don’t necessarily have the same amount of experience but they’ve been playing in the league and are a bit more familiar to the people looking.”
 
His agent Ritchie Hinton said the seasoned shot-stopper’s lack of local profile and the relatively small number of goalkeeping positions in the league hampered Young’s return.
 
“It’s still difficult to swallow that an Aussie guy in the prime of his career at 27 can be overlooked, when he’s played over 200 games in the UK, played for England at Under 20 level and started alongside the likes of James Milner, Bradley Wright-Phillips and Steven Taylor,” Hinton said.
 
“I think it’s often a case of better the devil you know when it comes to clubs evaluating players.
 
“They’d often rather recycle a player who they are familiar with because they’ve seen him week in and week out for other A-League or state league teams, rather than take a punt on a guy they’ve not seen much even if he has trained the house down on trial.
 
“I understand he’s not played at EPL level in the UK but neither did the likes of Shane Smeltz, Rostyn Griffiths, Paul Reid, Daniel McBreen or Adam Griffiths but I think we all agree that they’ve all been pretty handy A-League players.”
 
After training for several weeks with Brisbane Roar, Young says his immediate future is in the UK. Still, he remains upbeat about his recent venture home.
 
“I think there are a lot of positives to draw from coming here and exploring the Australian market,” he said. “It’s something definitely in the future I’d like to delve deeper and further into.”