Ufuk Talay hopes to have an answer on Adrian Segecic's future sooner rather than later with talks ongoing to determine if the talented playmaker will remain at Sydney FC beyond this season.
Segecic has been the breakout star of Sydney's campaign across the A-League Men and Asian Champions League Two, scoring 17 goals in 32 games.
But the 20-year-old is unsigned beyond this season, leading to fears he may walk away from Sydney at the end of this year without the Sky Blues receiving a transfer fee for one of the brightest Australian talents.
"I think there's still conversations happening within the club and whether that comes to fruition or not, I think we'll find out in a short amount of time," Talay said.
Segecic has done some of his best work as an impact sub, but struggled to have the same level of involvement as a starter in Wednesday's ACL2 clash.
Sydney won the second leg of their semi-final against Singaporean side Lion City Sailors 1-0 but lost 2-1 on aggregate.
Lion City did a good job to stifle Segecic's time to test their defence.
"When you play as a No. 10, there's limited space and time, especially against a team that is very negative without the ball," Talay said.
"You've got to find those spaces, you might have to drop in front to receive the ball to pull players out or sometimes you work in the back.
"So these are good learning moments for our young players, and JetBlack they can only get better by being in this environment."
Sydney's attention now turns to the ALM with their top-six place far from assured.
With three rounds left, Sky Blues sit sixth, one point ahead of Adelaide and two ahead of Macarthur heading into Sunday's home meeting with Newcastle.
What makes Sydney's end to the season all the more challenging - and puts their top-six hopes in potential jeopardy - is the fact they face two top-four sides in Melbourne City and Western United to round out their campaign.
"This is what we have got to play for," Talay said.
"We're out of AFC competition and with the A-League ahead of us we have three important games to cement a spot in the top six.
"The boys will have to shift their focus to the game against Newcastle on Sunday and we go from there."