HOLKER Street owner Paul Casson admits 'it would be a miracle' if Barrow AFC are able to keep hold of star winger Jordan Williams in the January transfer window.

The 23-year-old has attracted a lot of attention from Football League clubs since joining the Bluebirds from Northwich Victoria at the end of December last year.

Several bids were made for his services during the summer – but none matched the believed-for asking fee of around £250,000, with the closest at the time thought to be nearer to £100,000.

However, Casson fully expects the upcoming transfer window to spark renewed interest in his talented star – whose displays have earned him two England C call-ups and who has scored four goals this season, missing only one match in the process.

Indeed, the Texas-based club owner told Barrow fans to enjoy such moments from their star man as Tuesday's wonder goal against Guiseley and that a week earlier against Taunton while they still can, believing it is fully likely a bigger club will stump up the money to take him away from AFC in January.

“Jordan keeps adding things to his game,” said an admiring Casson. “The goal he scored against Taunton in the FA Cup replay, he hit that shot with his right foot, and he's naturally left-footed.

“He works so hard, and he's not pretty much two-footed if you look at the way he plays. He's adding things to his game all the time.

“It affects the way that he play. He really does work on it, so sometimes you can see bits, but when you are developing new skills like that it can throw you off your game for a little while.

“He's a very special player. If we manage to keep hold of him in January, it will be a miracle.

“I would tell the Barrovian public just to enjoy watching him while you have got him.”

Casson believes Williams is capable of playing in League One, and two of the clubs rumoured to be interested during the summer – Oxford United and Bradford City – play at that level.

So to do upcoming FA Cup second-round opponents Bristol Rovers, with the AFC owner believing that match could show the true potential of the left winger.

“The Bristol Rovers game will be interesting for Jordan, because it is our feeling that he could wander into a League One team and make an immediate contribution,” added Casson. “It will be interesting to see.

“Hopefully they won't gang up on him like a lot of teams in our league do. You saw what he did when he was given a little room to roam against Taunton – it was absolute mayhem. You can't stop him, and he could have had three or four in that game.”

If Williams should depart the Holker Street scene in January, it would lead to a significant boost to the Barrow club coffers.

But, when the suggestion was put to Casson that the money could be used to go out and bring in new players to bolster the squad, he played down the idea, suggesting that was not the way he or manager Paul Cox operated in the transfer market.

The chairman said he would be happy to splash the cash if Cox came to him with a specific target he really wanted in the Barrow ranks, but said he could not see that happening.

“We typically don't do that. It's not in our DNA,” said Casson.

“I doubt – but never say never – that we would operate that way. I don't think that's the way that Paul Cox particularly wants to operate. We're not going to go out and spend huge amounts – we're not Eastleigh, we're not going to go out and spend vast quantities of money on players, we would much rather develop them.

“We also believe we have players who could step in. Lindon Meikle is a brilliant winger, Andy Haworth is excellent. Harrp Panayiotou, who we haven't seen, is a brilliant player, and we believe Cockerline has tons of potential.

“We have lots of players who could easily step in.”

He added: “We can always find ways to spend the money. But on the players side, we prefer to develop players in our own way.

“We have the starting of the youth teams now, and hopefully you will find a gem there every now and then.

“Part of what we do and part of the way the club works, is that we will scour the lower leagues for gems there. That's one of the things we have done well so far.

“We haven't really missed on anybody we have brought through that route, and most of them look like they are going to be very good indeed. That's part of the way we do business.

“If there was somebody Paul Cox absolutely had to have, and we had to pay a fee – if there was money sitting there from a transfer fee – then, yes. But it's unlikely.

“Paul is much more likely to go and find a gem somewhere else that nobody really knows about, or a player he can develop, which is what he has done so well.

“We'll wait and see what happens. Nothing is off the table.”