Asked  whether he was worried about possibly losing the player's services Merrick said: "I think you have to respect his wishes."

"He's been fantastic for us since he's arrived, he's obviously a very important part of our team and we'd love to retain his services.

"If he doesn't want to negotiate until the end of the season we'll respect that and we'll work hard at the end of the season to retain his services."

Kruse said that putting a hold on contractual talks would leave him free to focus on the immediate challenges - winning games for Melbourne Victory.

"I want to wait until the end of the season to sort my future out," said Kruse.

"I just want to concentrate on playing for Melbourne Victory, to keep scoring goals, that's my job for the team.

"I'm happy here at Melbourne Victory, the coaching staff and everyone have been excellent to me and so have the players, they're really welcomed me."

Asked whether he was interested in moving overseas, he said: "All young players want to go overseas at some point in their careers."

"Whether they're good enough is the question.

"Whether it's next year or in five years or never I don't know that.

"All I can do is keep playing good football, hopefully keep scoring and doing my job."

Named earlier this week in Australia's extended squad for next month's Asian Cup, Kruse said he was not getting ahead of himself.

"To be put in the team with the calibre of the players that are in there would be massive," he said.

"To train with them and to learn off them would be huge but I'm just happy to be recognised in the 50."

"There's a lot of great players in there and if future honours come then I'd be happy."

Merrick said that while Kruse and fellow striker Archie Thompson would be difficult to replace should they happen to make the final squad, they both deserved to be named.

"It's important they play for the Socceroos and we'd manage," Merrick added.