Despite missing the whole of last season with a horrific hamstring injury, the Young Socceroos midfielder came off the bench in two pre-season first-team games and trains regularly with the senior side under the watchful eye of coach Tim Sherwood.
The graduate of Perth's renowned ECU Joondalup academy insists that he will be ready if - and when – the call comes from Sherwood, a strong advocate of promoting young talent when others might fear to tread.
“It’s a great thing to be made captain of the Under-21s, especially having been out all of last year,” said Lyden, who scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over West Ham two weeks back.
"The main thing is just staying fit. I am 19 now and have age in my side. I am training with the first team and I am in the right place with the right club.
"The coaches have said as long as I keep doing what I am doing there's no reason why I can't push on to the first team.
"Tim Sherwood is very good for bringing youngsters through as he showed in his time at Tottenham and Villa are renowned also for giving youngsters a chance."
Lyden has played every minute of the Under-21's opening four games, of which they have won three and drawn one. He also featured in the pre-season friendlies against Swindon and Walsall.
He knows only too well how far former Tottenham Under-21's skipper and Australia star Massimo Luongo has come since his days as a Spurs rookie, moving to Swindon and then Queens Park Rangers, with an Asian Cup winners' medial and most valuable player accolade collected along the way.
But Lyden says his playing style as more akin to Socceroos skipper Mile Jedinak, explaining: “I am a bit similar in way to Mile in that I like to get stuck in with a tackle and I can play at the same time.
“That’s what Villa seem to like about me ... I can play in the right areas and if I need to mix it up a bit I can. But I like to play football. That's really my game, the technical side of things."
Lyden, whose parents are English, broke into Australia's Under-20s side before his hamstring hell, and was also sounded out last year by coach Aurelio Vidmar over the Olyroos who are in the midst of their preparations for January’s bid to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“Now I am back playing, hopefully I am in contention for the Under 23s,” said Lyden who played in the qualifiers for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Malaysia last year.
He was struck down soon after signing a two-year extension on his Villa deal in August 2014 and admits it was a challenging period in a budding career which began when he trialed at Villa at the age of nine before signing a contract at 16.
"It was very frustrating ... I played 10 minutes in a pre-season game and missed the whole season. It was 15cm tear in my hamstring that was recurring and never had the right time to heal. But that's behind me now," he said.
