At an age when most of his classmates are choosing their Highers, pondering over which university to attend or mulling over whom to add to their Bebo page, James McCarthy is preparing for some life-changing decisions of his own.

That the precocious Hamilton Academical midfielder will progress to enjoy a long and prosperous career in football is virtually unquestionable. In whose colours - in terms of both club and country - he savours that success remains rather less clear-cut.

McCarthy was still only 15 when he made his first-team debut for Hamilton 14 months ago, emerging as a second-half substitute in a 1-1 draw with Queen of the South.

By the end of that campaign, he had emerged as a pivotal figure in Billy Reid's young side and had attracted the attention of clubs of the stature of Celtic, Rangers, Reading and Tottenham Hotspur.

It was Liverpool, though, who seemed to covet McCarthy above all the rest and it soon became a mutual love affair.

The Anfield club have twice this year tried to sign the coltish central midfielder - "I see myself as a box-to-box player" - and also brought him to Liverpool for a week's trial where he further boosted his burgeoning reputation and added a few extra noughts to any future transfer fee by scoring from 25 yards past Jerzy Dudek in a bounce match that included Luis Garcia, Robbie Fowler and Peter Crouch.

It would be enough to put a strut in any teenager's stride but McCarthy, a genuinely nice, grounded kid from Castlemilk, is not one to brag.

"It was great being at Liverpool. The facilities were great and everyone was fantastic with me.

"We had a bounce game with the first team and I scored a goal. So that was good. I learnt a lot. Their touch was amazing and you always had a pass to make."

The opportunity also rose during that trial week at Liverpool's Melwood training ground for him to have a natter with his hero, Steven Gerrard. "We just chatted. Not really about football, just other stuff really. I would love to be as good as him."

Liverpool will undoubtedly come calling again in the summer but they won't be the only suitors.

McCarthy will just wait and see what happens. He is contracted to Hamilton until 2009, by which time they could be a Clydesdale Bank Premier League club if they continue the sparkling start they have made to the Irn-Bru First Division, where they proudly top the table after 12 matches.

McCarthy's recent contribution to that ascent earned him the accolade of the Irn-Bru Phenomenal Young Player of the Month and he proudly clutches his award trophy and a bottle of the sponsor's ginger as he discusses his future.

"I don't see myself going anywhere in January, I'm quite happy at Hamilton just now. It's Billy Reid who has given me my chance and I think he's a great manager to work under. I wasn't really ready to leave home before but I think if I leave I will probably go down south in the summer as I've grown up a bit since then. We'll need to wait to see what happens."

Following today's match at home to Partick Thistle, McCarthy will bid adieu to his Hamilton team-mates and head off on international duty with the Republic of Ireland under-18 squad for two friendly matches in Germany.

The 16-year-old qualifies for the Irish via his grandfather from Donegal and chose to represent them after being overlooked by the country of his birth.

He has until under-21 level to decide where his international future lies and yet, somewhat surprisingly, no-one from the Scotland youth squad has yet been in touch to try to persuade him to swap emerald green for dark blue.

"Scotland didn't pick me," he reveals with no sign of regret or malice. "Scotland never came in for me last season and Ireland did so I went for them.

I'm not that bothered.

I'm just happy to be playing international football. You've got up to under-21s to change your mind but I don't know what I will do.

"Nobody from Scotland has been in touch, although I think they have been to watch me. If they want to pick me, they pick me. It's not up to me, is it?"