NEW Vegalta Sendai coach Graham Arnold has targeted star Brisbane Roar midfielder Luke Brattan as a potential signing for the J-League club.

But Brisbane boss Mike Mulvey yesterday insisted that Brattan, contracted to the Roar until 2015, was going nowhere.

"We don't sell our good players," Mulvey declared.

However, Mulvey's attitude isn't likely to stop Arnold tempting the Roar with a lucrative offer during January's transfer window should Brattan maintain his excellent form.

Back in Australia after finalising his deal to coach the Japanese club from next year, former Central Coast Mariners mentor Arnold was impressed with Brattan's performance in Brisbane's 3-1 win over Western Sydney on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.

media_camera Brattan's form for the Roar has attracted overseas interest. Photo: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

The former Australian under-20 representative has been the Roar's most consistent player this season, with his form a key factor in Brisbane sitting on top of the table after seven rounds.

Having waited patiently for a prolonged first-team opportunity, 23-year-old Brattan has not looked back since securing a spot in January following Erik Paartalu's move to Chinese Super League club Tianjin Teda.

Ironman Paartalu started in 85 successive matches for the Roar in all competitions before being sold to the Tianjin club.

Brattan has since made 20 successive starts, with fitness issues that previously plagued him seemingly no longer a problem.

"He's got a great range of passing and I could be interested in signing him,'' Arnold told The Courier-Mail yesterday.

"I've got a couple of foreign spots available … Luke's done very well since he has come into Brisbane's team."

The "3+1" rule exists in the J-League, with clubs permitted to have four foreigners provided at least one is from another Asian Football Confederation nation.

Brattan isn't the only A-League midfielder Arnold is keeping tabs on, with Melbourne Victory star Mark Milligan, Adelaide United's Osama Malik and Western Sydney's Aaron Mooy also on his radar.

And if Mulvey has his way, it will be one of the other three going to Japan.

"There's no offer that's going to be too good to refuse when it comes to Luke," the Roar coach said.

"We don't need to sell him and we're not going to sell him.

"He's committed to Brisbane, we're a big club and he's doing very well. Luke wants to be with us."

The Roar host Perth on Saturday at Suncorp Stadium, with the Glory certain to be without fullback Scott Jamieson, who had surgery yesterday after rupturing his achilles tendon in his side's 2-1 weekend loss to the Mariners.

Perth's star French import William Gallas is also likely to miss the match after limping off with a calf injury in the defeat.

Mulvey said the Roar's former Glory midfielder Liam Miller would miss the chance to take on his old club after suffering a setback in his recovery from his own calf problem.

Veteran Brisbane fullback Shane Stefanutto is also set to be sidelined for another match as he continues his recovery from a hamstring injury.

Originally published as Hands off Luke, say Roar