Heimir Hallgrimsson believes the upcoming Murcia camp will be a good way to test Jaden Umeh's limits after naming the "high potential player" in his Republic of Ireland training camp squad.
At 18, the Cork native is the youngest member of the 21-man squad that will travel to Spain for the camp and an official friendly against Grenada on Saturday, 16 May.
Only as recently as November, the winger was representing Ireland at the FIFA U17 World Cup, while he made his under-21 debut in March.
He is on the books at Portuguese giants Benfica but has yet to make an appearance for the Lisbon club's first team.
However, Hallgrimsson is keen to see what Umeh offers up close with an eye to the longer-term.
"From what we've seen, obviously a high potential player. We don't know what his limit will be but it is exciting to work with him and see what his limitations are," he said at Tuesday's squad announcement at FAI headquarters.
"But, from what we've seen with youth teams and clips from Benfica, an exciting player, one for the future, if he is ready for the first team we will have to wait and see."
Umeh is the only player called up who is currently in-season, but the fact that he is not playing senior club football paved the way for his inclusion.
Jack Moylan, meanwhile, had been expected to be a nailed-on inclusion for the squad after impressive form for Lincoln City in League One and had even been close to a call-up for the March play-off in Czechia.
The former Shelbourne man plundered 11 goals from early December onwards from an attacking midfield berth as the Imps earned promotion to the Championship for next season.
Hallgrimsson had gone to see the Dubliner in action against Wycombe last month and Hallgrimsson said he was intrigued by Moylan's talent which will be tested further in the English second tier when 2026-27 rolls around.
"An interesting player, really interesting. Individual quality, creative, goalscoring," said the Ireland boss.
"I saw him in the last game of the season. It was a frantic atmosphere in Lincoln that day, it was enjoyable to be there. (He is) a good person as well, (and I) spoke to him.
"He was in consideration. He was in the big squad for the last camp. He was close to being picked then, so it's just a good opportunity to bring him in and see what he's made of, and how he works in our environment. He has a lot of attributes.
"I think it will be interesting to see him again in the Championship next season. One step higher. But his stats are incredible, one of the highest scorers in many metrics, but it's League One. Let's see how he does it in the Championship next season. He is a really interesting player."
Umeh and Moylan are two of nine uncapped players drafted in for Murcia, with the others being goalkeepers Josh Keeley and Killian Cahill, defenders Eiran Cashin, Tayo Adaramola and Joel Bagan, winger Millenic Alli and forward Aidomo Emakhu.
"It's good for us to have this one because you always want answers," Hallgrimsson said of the opportunity that awaits the new faces.
"There's a lot of players who have been in our mind. 'Is he ready, is he not ready?' So we'll get answers after this camp and more clear, hopefully, one or two or three players will step up and stake a claim for being in the future (in) official games for us."
And the Iceland native is hopeful that the newcomers will learn from the experienced names like Dara O'Shea, Jayson Molumby, Jason Knight, Chiedozie Ogbene and Adam Idah that will join them in Spain.
But he is also interested to see how those aforementioned regulars assert themselves over the days to come.
"We still want them to be the leaders and we'd like them to step up in this camp as well. So it's not only to look at new faces and new players and deepen the squad, it's also to get to know our players better, to have good daily habits in the camps," he said.
Hallgrimsson will name a revised squad for the friendlies against Qatar and Canada which will come on 28 May and 6 June respectively.
A potential inclusion for that will be former Sligo Rovers striker Owen Elding who is now part of the Hibernian team in the Scottish Premiership.
Fuel protests last month delayed the conferring of his Irish citizenship and subsequent reports suggested that his birth country England may attempt to bring the 20-year-old into their youth system.
However, the Ireland manager quashed that possibility, and said that Elding could be involved in the second camp later this month even if he is not yet eligible to be capped for Ireland until he receives his passport.
"I heard of the report, didn't read it. So I just called him this morning. I said I was going to a press conference. So I just wanted to have his word for it. Is he committed to Ireland? 100% he is," Hallgrimsson said.
"And even though he cannot play the games against Qatar and Canada, we might even bring him in, just to have him around the squad in May, June. But he's committed to us, so I'm not worried about that one."
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