SWINDON Wildcats’ star Swedish import Jonas Höög will not be returning to the club for the new season.

The 27-year-old had been Cats’ top scorer in the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, but last term saw Henri Sandvik and Aaron Nell both outscore him as the Swindon side narrowly lost out in the EPL play-off semi-finals.

Höög signed for the Cats back in 2010 from Nacka HK in his homeland and has since become a fans’ favourite at the Link Centre, scoring 127 goals and making 209 assists in 187 games.

Head coach Ryan Aldridge said Cats gave up on trying to re-sign Höög as the Swede had been uncontactable over the summer.

“We’re not having him back to be honest, we’ve been trying to get hold of him all summer and couldn’t so we decided to move on,” Aldridge told the Advertiser.

“The first two full seasons he had he was outstanding for us, he was leading scorer, but sometimes you need a change, a fresh face.

“We’re going to miss his points, obviously, but our other line was on par, or even slightly better, at the end of the last season.

“We brought Aaron (Nell) back and he’s going to be here for a whole year this time, and we’ve got plenty of young players capable of stepping up.

“We’ll be making a change, we can play in different ways and without Jonas we’ll be playing a more all around game.”

The Advertiser understands that Cats are in advanced talks with a replacement import for Höög.

As well as Nell, Cats have also brought back Shane Moore, Lee Richardson, Jan Kostal, Stevie Lyle, Alex Symonds, Aaron Nell, Henri Sandvik, Ollie Betteridge and Steve Whitfield for the new season.