ALUN ARMSTRONG has warned potential buyers that Justin Donawa will “not go cheap” should the 23-year-old leave Darlington.

The pacey attacker with 20 caps for Bermuda has caught the eye in his first season in English football, scoring nine times and nailing down a spot on the right wing.

With impressive aerial ability too given a background in athletics, Donawa is a player bound to be interesting clubs higher up the ladder.

“He’s got something you cannot teach and that’s pace. He’s scoring goals and he’s got massive potential,” said Armstrong, of a a talent previously with Black Rock FC in the US.

“There’s not many people like him, he’s a sheer athlete and if you had time to work with him it would be a no-brainer to sign him.

“But he’ll not go cheap. If a Football League club comes calling we would not stand in his way, but it’s got to be the right deal for the club as well.

“If I was a league manager I would be looking at him. He’s raw, the athleticism that he has, his leap, he’s someone you could work with four or five times a week.

“He’s so powerful off the mark he there’s before you know it. He’s got the ability to do that, to get in front of people, and that’s something you cannot teach.”

Earlier this month Leamington sold striker Josh March, 22, to Forest Green Rovers for an undisclosed fee, and last summer the same club sold Colby Bishop to Accrington Stanley, demonstrating that scouts will come flocking to the National League North for the right player.

Donawa is under contract for the remainder of this season and Quakers have an option to extend his deal for a further year.

However, Armstrong was initially reluctant to select Donawa in his starting XI, citing positional sense as a factor in preferring players such as Jarrett Rivers and Stephen Thompson.

But coaching over a period of time means he is now in the first-choice XI, starting the team’s last eight matches in all competitions.

The manager explained: “It was the other side of his game we needed to work on. Where he had played previously, it was all about staying up the field and attacking, but my wide players have got to help out the full-backs constantly in a positional sense off the ball.

“He wasn’t tucking in at times, so we kept working with him told him to watch Jarrett, to watch Thommo, listen to the instructions and I think everyone has seen the benefits because he’s tracking back, he’s nicking the ball off people and he has learnt so much.”

Donawa and his team-mates hope to bounce back this weekend at Blackwell Meadows against Guiseley, a team Quakers won 2-1 in the away fixture last week.

It was a good result, but one they followed by limply losing 3-0 at Chester on Saturday, with Donawa well-marshalled by left-back Joel Taylor.

Armstrong added: “Justin had a really quiet game but we didn’t help him by keeping lumping balls into him.

“He’s an outlet, yes, but we can’t keep you can’t keep doing that, their left-back got on top and did exceptionally well.

“I think they had marked his card from our previous game against them when Justin had the better of him.

“Justin has played a lot of games recently, he’s had a lot of minutes, so I just thought we should get him off because the game was gone and rest his legs for next week.”