JIM White will not be exploding all over Sky Sports News about a late deal for Town’s Aussie star Massimo Luongo on transfer deadline day, according to boss Mark Cooper.

The build-up to Saturday’s Asian Cup final – where Luongo scored the first goal as Australia beat South Korea 2-1 in extra time and was after named the tournament’s most valuable player – saw the Swindon midfielder linked with some of Europe’s glamour sides.

However his club manager, Cooper, believes that, come tomorrow morning, the 22-year-old will still be his player.

Luongo is taking a few days off in his homeland to enjoy the Socceroos’ victory, returning in time for Town’s next home game against Barnsley on Saturday.

It is part of a plan to keep the rampaging midfielder out of the clutches of teams sniffing around his signature, in the wake of the rapid surge of interest in him, with the transfer window shutting at 11pm Monday night.

That, Luongo’s stated desire to stay and chairman Lee Power’s resolve to keep together his team of promotion hopefuls, has given Cooper confidence that the player’s future, at least in the short term, is at the County Ground.

Town reportedly turned down a bid valued at just under £2 million from an unnamed Turkish club last week, while Luongo has also bee attracting interest from Spain as well as Championship clubs in England.

But Cooper said after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at Sheffield United: “The chairman said to me nothing will happen (on transfer deadline day).

“I think when you play in a global tournament, you’re going to get foreign teams interested in you and that’s what’s happened to Mass (Luongo).

“(€2.5 million) is not enough to buy Mass. I don’t know (what the club value him at) but if you look at Dele Alli (of MK Dons), what’s he going for?

“Four or £5 million? (Luongo) is as good a player as him, so I don’t think he’d go for any less than that.

“(If I was in charge of selling him he’d be worth) about £25 million, but no I wouldn’t sell him, unless there was a desperate, desperate need.”

Cooper believes the stark differences between Luongo’s humble club surroundings and what he has become accustomed to at the Asian Cup will not be a problem for the Aussie when he does return this week.

“He’s the pin-up boy of Australian football isn’t he?” joked the Robins manager, before adding: “I know his peers in the Australian team think highly of him and that’s the biggest accolade you can get as a footballer. He’s the David Beckham of Australia now.

“He’s got to play against Barnsley on Saturday, I’m sure going from playing in front of 60,000-odd people in Sydney to playing at the County Ground, knowing him as he is, won’t bother him.”

With little to no business expected at the club today, Cooper revealed that he’ll be tuning into Sky Sports News to see what’s going on around the training grounds, adding with a tongue-in-cheek: “I’ll be watching (presenters) Jim White and Kirsty (Gallagher) with interest, more of Jim obviously.”