Former Leeds United forward Noel Whelan thinks the Whites are in a good enough position financially to refuse offers for Chris Wood.
Burnley failed on Friday with a £12m plus bonuses offer for the New Zealand international, while it has also been claimed Leeds have turned down a £16m bid from an as yet unnamed Premier League team.
Wood was prolific last season in front of goal for Leeds, scoring around 40 per cent of the side's total Championship goals, and Whelan thinks he must stay if the club are looking to earn promotion.
Whelan also thinks Leeds are not in a position where they need to sell Wood, following the takeover of the club by Italian sports TV rights mogul Andrea Radrizzani.
"I hope so [that we keep him] because we need to have good players here if we are looking to get promoted", the former White said on BBC Radio Leeds.
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"I don't think we need to sell players.
"We are in a position where we can keep players."
He also stressed that if Leeds did sell Wood, there is no clear replacement to bring in for the Kiwi.
"We need him this season and who are we going to replace him with?" Whelan mused.
"If I was the manager I'd want to keep him."
With Leeds appearing to be keen to keep Wood, clubs keen on signing the striker may well be forced to hope he rocks the boat at Elland Road and demands the chance to pocket a big pay rise and a move up the ladder to the Premier League.
At present, Wood has given no indication he will do so.
