Cobblers have rejected 'significant offers' from League Two clubs for players this summer

Cobblers have turned down ‘significant offers’ for some of their key men this summer.

With so many players tied down for the foreseeable future, the club have been able to keep together the bulk of the squad which won promotion from League Two as they head up to the third tier.

However, as confirmed by chairman Kelvin Thomas, that does not mean Town’s resolve has not been tested this summer, particularly given the financial muscle of teams in League Two. Thomas did not name names but Sam Hoskins is one player who has likely attracted interest following his exploits in front of goal last season when he netted 22 times and won the League Two Player of the Year award.

But the decision to lock down key players – such as Hoskins, captain Jon Guthrie and winger Mitch Pinnock – to long-term contracts has put the club in a strong negotiating position.

"League Two is more attractive financially for players than it ever has been but we have a good group here and we're not in a position where we need to sell players,” said Thomas. “We’ll always be realistic and if the offer is good and the player wants to go, then we’ll look at it on its merits.

"But we don’t have to and we’ve told Jon (Brady) that. We’ve had significant offers for players and those offers could probably have been pushed a bit higher if we were really interested, but we don’t want to sell players.

"We've got a good group. We felt this summer’s recruitment began in November in terms of offering players long-term contracts. That was important at the time but it gets forgotten about because people get excited by signings.

"But we were patient and comfortable and why would we want to sell the players we’ve given contracts to? They’ve done well for us. I’m not going to give out any names but everyone knows the players who did well for us last season.

"Those are the players you want to keep. We have them under contract and we don’t need to sell.”