Bristol City are among a host of clubs considering a bid to sign highly-rated Swindon Town striker Simon Cox.

The former Reading forward, 22, looks set to leave the County Ground on the back of a 32-goal season that earned him a share of the League One Golden Boot with Bristol Rovers frontman Rickie Lambert.

Swindon have already turned down two formal offers for the £2 million-rated striker – believed to be from Leicester City and Scottish Premier League giants Celtic – in the last 10 days and five other clubs are also believed to have registered a verbal interest.

The Evening Post has been told that Bristol City are amongst that group of clubs to have made preliminary inquiries before the end of last season and have requested to be kept abreast of developments as they unfold over the summer.

Swindon, however, are unlikely to let Cox leave on the cheap and are even hoping that the striker, who has a year left to run on his current deal, may be persuaded to extend his stay at the County Ground by the offer an improved contract.

The likelihood, though, is that Cox will leave Swindon for pastures new, with three Barclays Premier League clubs – believed to be West Brom, Bolton and Hull City – and at least one other Coca-Cola Championship side also in the running to land the impressive goal poacher.

City are in the market for a striker before the start of next season, with out-of-contract targetman Dele Adebola set to leave the club.

Cox would not be a like-for-like replacement, however, as he stands at well under 6ft, but has caught the eye with a knack of scoring a wide range of goals – including a number of spectacular efforts from outside the box – and an impressive work-rate.

Swindon Town chairman Andrew Fitton refused to comment on whether City were one of Cox's potential suitors when contacted by the Post yesterday, but he did say: "We have had a couple of formal written offers for Simon but they have been turned down.

"We have also had verbal contact with some other clubs regarding the situation as it stands currently, and there are around seven clubs seriously interested at the moment.

"We do not anticipate anything happening in the short term as Simon is away on holiday and we will open talks with him on his return as regards a possible new contract to keep him at Swindon.

"We will also discuss any offers we receive from other clubs between now and then, but we are in no rush to sell and it would have to be a very special offer that is right for this club for us to consider it."

Meanwhile, City chairman Steve Lansdown has confirmed that there will be no improved contract offer to keep Adebola.

Player of the year Adebola, 34, is keen to sign a two-year deal with a Championship club but the Robins are only proposing a 12-month offer.

Lansdown said: "We have made him an offer of a contract and he is weighing up his options, but we hope he will stay with us.

"We are not going to go to a two-year deal because we have made our offer and I think it is a very fair one."

Meanwhile, Leicester City chairman Milan Mandaric has revealed his club are interested in City's out-of-contract goalkeeper Chris Weale.

The Robins have not announced whether they will be retaining the former Yeovil man.