Antalya: Socceroos' coach Bert van Marwijk has admitted he may have made a mistake in not initially selected Jamie Maclaren for his World Cup squad, saying the Hibernian striker is a player he now "needs" and was one of the first players he selected for the final 23-man squad.

Maclaren is on his way to Russia despite being cut from the Socceroos' preliminary squad that first formed camp in Turkey on May 20, only to be brought back into at the 11th hour as an injury replacement and then selected for the World Cup team.

Van Marwijk admits the situation was not fair for Maclaren and was impressed with the former Brisbane Roar man's attitude and application in training. Maclaren was already on holidays when he received a call to rejoin the national team. He was immediately thrust into double training sessions in the gruelling heat of the Turkish summer with the difficult task of impressing against those who had been there since day one.

"It was not really fair to him but he made a good impression. I think I need him," van Marwijk said. "For me it was the first nomination because I got him because of the injury of Juric. He came and I am satisfied about him."

No Australian forward outside the A-League scored more goals than Maclaren in 2018. His keen eye for goal and composed finishing won over van Marwijk, who believes the 24-year-old offers a different style to the other forwards.