Russell Martin admits the sale of Flynn Downes puts Swansea City in a significantly stronger position to fend off any transfer interest in other stars including Joel Piroe this summer.
Midfielder Downes excelled under Martin's leadership last season after joining from Ipswich Town for a fee of £1.4m. And the Englishman secured a £9m move to West Ham United last week in a deal that could be worth up to £14m with add-ons.
The Swans had widely been expected to sell Piroe this summer following his stunning debut season at the club. The Dutchman netted 24 goals in 47 outings after joining from PSV Eindhoven and has been linked with clubs including Watford and Leicester City.
And having generated a significant sum from the sale of Downes, it's understood the Swans do not wish to sell any more of their key assets this summer.
When asked if Downes' exit puts the club in a strong position to keep hold of their best players this summer, Martin told WalesOnline: "I think so. The amount we got for Flynn, it's a real positive for everyone. Obviously we're disappointed to lose Flynn because he's brilliant.
"But it's a brilliant return for the club, if you look at it as a financial return and what he did on the pitch. He got a dream move to a club he supported as a kid. So really, while you're disappointed to lose him in terms of performance, I think it's only a positive.
"It reflects really well on everyone that's been involved in his development, his team-mates, the staff here, Matt Gill who identified we should bring him to the club, and the owners backed us on that.
"Gilly has to take a huge amount of credit because he understood the kid. He was in the 23s at Ipswich when we took him and had fallen out of love with football, so it's a real success story.
"Hopefully there'll be more success stories like that. I've said all the way along that the most beautiful thing would be for us all to get there [Premier League] together. If that doesn't happen, [the aim] it's to enable loads of others to get there and make sure this club is stable financially."
Swansea would want in the region of £18m to £20m for Piroe, and it's believed that Downes' departure means the club are in a position to reject offers that fall way below their valuation of the 22-year-old.
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