Caley Thistle manager John Robertson insists he faces an uphill battle to prevent clubs targeting his assets the longer Inverness remain in the Championship.
Defender Coll Donaldson became the latest player to be lured back to the Premiership by Highland rivals Ross County, following Ross Draper, Iain Vigurs and Joe Chalmers who have moved over the Kessock Bridge in recent years.
Inverness have also lost Liam Polworth, George Oakley and Owain Fon Williams to top-flight clubs within the last 12 months.
Robertson says the interest from other clubs is an inevitable consequence of his success in developing players at Caledonian Stadium.
He said: “It becomes increasingly difficult to find the standard and quality of player we require.
“We’ve got to look further afield. It’s part of the mantra we have here – we find players and bring them in, they may have lost their way, but they get themselves back to a level.
“We obviously want them to be with us. We don’t want to be a breeding club for anybody.
“We don’t want to develop and improve players that we lose. We want to keep them, but unfortunately all the time we remain in the Championship and there are Premiership teams sniffing about them, that’s the danger we’ve got.
“With the new rules that from January onwards players can talk to other clubs, it’s difficult.”
Robertson says receiving an undisclosed fee for Donaldson was a small crumb of comfort from the defender’s departure, adding: “In the past the club has been criticised they have let very good players leave the club for nothing – such as Adam Rooney, Graeme Shinnie and Jonny Hayes.
“At least we are clawing some money back, was the bonus here. We’ve lost quality to the Premiership all the way through. We have managed to replace everyone since then and that’s part of my job.”
Inverness are in Scottish Cup action when they travel to Championship rivals Alloa Athletic tomorrow, having reached the semi-finals of the competition last season before losing to Hearts at Hampden Park.
Robertson feels that cup run helped to spark interest in players such as Donaldson, along with Jamie McCart, Shaun Rooney and Jordan White who are being tracked by other clubs.
Robertson added: “Last year we finished third, we got to the Scottish Cup semi-finals, which was part of the reason a lot of them came on the radar.
“Teams started to take notice, but it’s a consequence of the position we’re in.
“We had targeted four players in particular we felt had a big say in our team, who we wanted to try and build our team around.
“We offered them deals but they all turned them down because they wanted to see what was available.
“That’s where it becomes difficult, because we are not in the top five payers in the Championship.”