MARK Cooper has said that Swindon Town’s steadfast refusal to consider selling Yaser Kasim on deadline day proves the club will not let their star players leave on the cheap.

Kasim was the subject of a £250,000 bid from an unnamed Championship club with around 12 hours remaining of the summer transfer window, but neither Town nor the midfielder were keen on making the move happen.

Cooper thinks the stance taken by the player shows how committed he is to making the most of what his manager called his “last chance” in professional football.

“You’re talking about a player who couldn’t get a game in the Conference last year,” he said.

“He’s come in and realised it may be his last opportunity, and he’s given it everything he’s got. Yes, the way we play and the system we play suits him down to the ground, but I wouldn’t think he’d be in a hurry to go anywhere at the moment with the way things are going for himself.

“It’s more of the case of the club turning it down because he’s under contract. We value him highly and we think he can be a really good player.

“We don’t want to let any of those players go cheaply because they’ve all got a big part to play this season.”