Gareth Ainsworth admits he has a fight on his hands to keep goalkeeping star Matt Ingram at Adams Park.

The High Wycombe-born youngster has been in outstanding form as Wanderers have risen to the top of League Two, having been voted player of the year last season.

He's kept ten clean sheets so far this campaign and his form between the sticks hasn't gone unnoticed, with Championship side Nottingham Forest one of a number of sides tracking the progress of the former John Hampden Grammar School pupil.

And while Ainsworth wants to keep hold of Ingram, he said his hands might be tied due to the budget restraints at Adams Park.

Ainsworth has seen two of his leading lights, Paris Cowan-Hall and Josh Scowen, move on in recent weeks to Millwall and Barnsley respectively.

The Blues boss said the money Wanderers received from those two deals has helped bring greater financial stability to the club.

But when asked if that would mean Wanderers are in a position to turn down a bid for the highly-rated Ingram, he said: "That'll be based on the club and the bid. You can never say never. It goes a long way on the stability side of the plan from the money we get for those players."

Ainsworth added: "There's no way we could go beyond our means to keep a player. It would be crazy to put the club backwards and put ourselves in big debts. It's stability first, then success - that's the plan.

"It's a testing time for League Two clubs. Losing Paris and Josh has been tough. We've been attempting to do all we can to keep all those players - it just shows the plight we have here.

"Those two players have helped greatly in steadying the ship, they've gone a big way to creating stability. Hopefully we can keep hold of the rest to keep the next part of the plan in place."

Ingram - who was named the Football League's young player of the month for September - has conceded just one goal in his last five matches and was man of the match in keeping his latest shut-out at Mansfield on Saturday.

The match finished goalless largely thanks to Ingram's heroics in goal, with an incredible first half double save going a long way to extending their unbeaten run to ten games.

Ainsworth said: "I can't see a better keeper in the division than Matt Ingram. I may be a little bit biased because I'm his manager, but for such a young person to have played so many consecutive games and to have been consistently high is incredible.

"There have been one or two learning curves along the way, obviously, but he rarely has a run of bad games. He's very reliable and the calmness he brings to the boys is something special.

"I'll still put my neck on the line and say Matty will go all the way to the top."

Ingram signed a new contract last summer, tying him to Wanderers until 2017.