Talented Brisbane Roar midfielder Luke Brattan's biggest challenge will be testing himself, according to coach Mike Mulvey.
Talented Brisbane Roar midfielder Luke Brattan's biggest challenge will be testing himself, according to coach Mike Mulvey.
Brattan has been linked with a move abroad after his impressive start to the A-League season, playing as a deep-lying playmaker for the league leaders.
The 23-year-old has played the second most number of passes in the opposition half this campaign, second only to team-mate Thomas Broich.
Brattan is capable of anything – according to Mulvey, who labelled his performance in the Roar's 1-0 win over Perth on Saturday his best of the season.
"He has an abundance of talent. His biggest challenge is challenging himself in his mind as to how far he wants to take his ability," Mulvey said.
"Once he understands how important he is to the team, not just to the team but the league, because he's an exciting player.
"He's got a passing range – short, long – he's very intelligent, he's intuitive, he can score goals, he can make goals, he can defend.
"He's growing every day and it's very easy for him to do that in our environment particularly given we've got players of the quality of which we do."
The move of Ivan Franjic from right-back to further forward has been Mulvey's biggest positional change on a talented Roar squad.
Mulvey said Franjic, who won his sixth international cap in Australia's win over Costa Rica, could play anywhere.
"When I saw him at training, I saw his movement, I saw his decision making under pressure, I just knew straight away this guy can play anywhere," he said.
"He's playing central midfield for us at the moment, he's played wide right. I can play him in any position.
"There's no limit to what he can achieve, what we've seen since he's come back from the national team game where he played recently against Costa Rica is the extra bit of confidence that you get from playing with your country."
Mulvey insists his team have plenty of improvement left, believing they can 'get a bit of rhythm going' after injuries and international call-ups unsettled them earlier in the season.
He refused to discuss the Roar's transfer plans, but said his players were committed despite several being linked with moves away.
"We're very, very happy with the players that we've got and I can promise all Brisbane Roar fans out there that everybody is 100 per cent focused on Brisbane Roar," Mulvey said.