MILES Storey’s departure to Portsmouth could pave the way for Connor Waldon to make a big impression with Swindon Town in 2014/15, but the young striker may still end up going out on loan himself.

Waldon is one of four strikers left at the County Ground, alongside Michael Smith, Andy Williams and George Barker, following the completion of Storey’s season-long switch to Fratton Park yesterday, and Robins manager Mark Cooper is confident the teenager has what it takes to prove himself in league football this term.

However, depending on whether or not the Town boss manages to acquire a new forward in the transfer market, Waldon and a handful of other young Swindon stars could be farmed out on loan themselves, in a bid to gain first-team experience.

Of Waldon, Cooper said: “It would help him in the fact that there would be a vacancy and a space in the squad that Miles would leave. Connor played in the last game of the season and I thought he did quite well. There’s a lot of promise there as well but he’s still a baby and whether he’s ready consistently to play in League One just yet, we’ll see.

“It might be that two or three of the young lads need to go out and play as well. We’ve got to see what we bring in first.”

Cooper is targeting “two or three” signings before the new League One campaign gets underway on August 9, with Town expected to draft in a number of young players from the Premier League.

“I think it’ll be two or three that we bring in,” said Cooper. “I don’t think we need it to be like last year. I think we’re short central defensively.

“Hopefully with the basis of the squad being done and adding to or three, that’ll be good for us.”

Of Storey’s loan switch to the south coast, Cooper said: “I think he knows he’ll be playing regularly.

“He’ll be playing for a big club in a league below in front of a big crowd every week. It gives him an opportunity to get into a rhythm and score some goals and I think it will do him a world of good.

“I think he can score more goals, he’s still got to get that consistency in holding the ball up. It’s not all about running in behind people all the time. We are working with him but it’s about that ability to hold the ball up.”