MARK Cooper has admitted he is dreading a phone call telling him one of his prized assets is on the way out of Swindon Town, but as of yet the Robins boss is delighted not have had such an experience.

A host of Championship and League One clubs have been monitoring Cooper’s top young talent this summer, with bids rejected from Rotherham AUnited for Massimo Luongo and Peterborough United for Nathan Thompson.

However, Swindon are not in a position to turn down silly money, with the club aiming at self-sustainability in the coming months, and Cooper remains slightly anxious that he could yet see one of his headline acts sold.

For the meantime, though, no bids have been forthcoming that have left Town with little option but to sell.

When asked whether any clubs had been sniffing round his players with fresh offers, Cooper told the Advertiser: “Nothing concrete but I’m sure Lee would ring me and say ‘whoever it is is going’ and we have to prepare without them. I’ve not had any phone calls mentioning that in the last few weeks.

“I do dread it because if we lose any of our boys it weakens us but on the other hand it shows the club is going in the right direction. The aim was to get young players and try to play in a certain way to attract people to come and buy them, and I think that’s working at the minute.

“If we can send them off to have a career as a Premiership footballer then that’s great.”

While he keeps his current squad together, however, Cooper has stressed that the atmosphere in the Robins’ camp is at a high.

He said: “Team spirit seems to be good. Last year we were complaining that maybe we had too many players for training but this year it’s a nice workable sized group but we need three or four additions.”