Swindon Town Head of Football Jamie Russell said that the club never attempted to sign Dan Kemp and Jake Young permanently.

The pair both arrived in the summer on loan from fellow League Two clubs and made a huge impression at the County Ground, racking up a combined 30 goals and 12 assists prior to being recalled in January.

At the beginning of January, Michael Flynn said that Swindon had made multiple attempts to bring in Jake Young and Dan Kemp on a permanent basis, but the deals had proved too costly.

However, due to restrictions placed upon Town’s transfer business by the EFL due to late payments from the club, permanent deals for the two loan stars had been rendered impossible as of November 10.

Russell said that although Swindon had discussed the futures of Young and Kemp with their parent clubs, they had never been in talks over permanent deals for them.

He said: “At the start of the [summer] window, Bradford were in no rush to have him [Young] back, so then he comes here, and he does really well, so they are going to want him back.

“Those conversations [around their futures] were had early with the clubs, but it was nothing around buying the player or anything like that.”

Speaking on the deals in the summer, Russell was asked whether there had been the opportunity to sign the pair on a permanent basis instead of on loan.

Kemp had impressed in the fourth tier with Hartlepool United last season, scoring nine goals and getting two assists in 16 appearances despite the club being relegated to the National League.

Young had a more difficult time during his loan spell during the previous campaign, failing to find the back of the net in 17 appearances during six months with Barrow AFC.

Russell said that neither Kemp nor Young were seen as exciting signings when they first arrived and nobody foresaw the impact they ended up having.

He said: “From a League Two point of view, I don’t think there was anybody jumping up and down going ‘Thank God we have got Dan Kemp in’ in the summer and I don’t think anyone was doing the same for Jake Young.

“In hindsight, which is fantastic, you would want to do it, but we gave them that platform and they helped us as well, we helped each other.”