LIAM Sercombe believes it could be difficult for Oxford United to hang on to star forward Kemar Roofe this summer, despite the club winning promotion.

Plans are being drawn up about what is required to build a squad this summer capable of handling the step up to Sky Bet League One.

While recruiting new players will be important, United may face a battle to hang on to their top names.

The club made it clear in January only an astronomical bid would be considered to ensure the promotion bid was kept on track.

But since then the accounts for last season have revealed a £2.4 million loss, with chairman Darryl Eales admitting while the club remained as tenants at the Kassam Stadium their model for sustainability involved player trading.

Roofe, who scored 26 goals for the U’s, has been linked with a host of Premier League and Championship clubs in recent months.

It has led to plenty of individual accolades, including claiming the League Two player of the year honour at the Football League Awards last month.

Sercombe, who was jointly named United’s players’ player of the season, reckons it may be a battle to keep the versatile forward.

He said: “Roofey has been great all year and scored a lot of important goals for us.

“Hopefully we can keep hold of him, but it’s going to be tough.

“It’s his first professional season and he deserves everything he gets.

“It’s a massive thing for him to score 26 goals and I’m happy for him.

“He’s a great guy around the changing room.”

The squad fly off for a short break today to celebrate sealing a place in Sky Bet League One next season.

Roofe is then looking forward to his first family trip abroad for several years, where he has a simple plan to deal with the speculation.

“I’ll go on holiday and turn off my phone,” he said. “It’s all about spending time with my family in the off-season and that’s what I’m going to do.”

He added: “I’m going to say to everybody, I’ve still got two years left on my contract.”

It comes after Roofe smashed his pre-season goals target, which will remain the same for the next campaign.

He said: “My aim was ten goals to start with and go from there. I took it game-by-game all the time.

“Next season will be the same – ten goals again and go from there.

“If I don’t score I’m always looking to help the team.”

Callum O’Dowda has also been subject to lots of transfer speculation, particularly Derby County.

And after scoring five goals in his last seven games to reach double figures for United, the winger thinks it could be a similar situation to the January window.

He said: “It probably will be, but I’m going to keep my head down and focus on football.

“I’ll let the people who look after me deal with that.”