Barnsley look to go further afield in search for rising young talent

THE SUCCESS of Barnsley's transfer recruitment model is being held up by many in the EFL as one worth following.
Barnsley's head coach Paul Heckingbottom.Barnsley's head coach Paul Heckingbottom.
Barnsley's head coach Paul Heckingbottom.

The Reds have targeted young, hungry and emerging players, aged 24 or under, who have made their name at a lower-ranked club or who are on the periphery at top-flight teams and are seeking to strike out further.

It is a policy that is serving the Reds well.

The club’s signings over the past few years have proved outstanding in that regard: Conor Hourihane, Sam Winnall, Alfie Mawson, Josh Scowen, Marc Roberts, Andy Yiadom and Angus MacDonald; the list is an eye-catching and lengthy one.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Barnsley are following that well-trodden path again this summer, having already signed three 21-year-olds in Stevie Mallan, Liam Lindsay and Jason McCarthy, alongside a 22-year-old in Cameron McGeehan for a more sizeable six-figure outlay.

However, similar-sized rival clubs are looking to emulate Barnsley’s policy of buying promising young players for future gain, and the Reds are looking at broadening their model.

This will involve extending their recruitment and scouting network overseas once again in an attempt to unearth further successful ‘project’ signings.

In the past, cosmopolitan names have frequented the Oakwell scene from such as Arjen De Zeeuw and Heinz Muller to Clint Marcelle and Hugo Colace.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Those names and several others besides have helped earn the club a fair bit of kudos in the process after initially arriving as unheralded names.

Head coach Paul Heckingbottom is quick to acknowledge that Barnsley are examining tapping into foreign markets in their quest to continue to offer a pathway for young, up-and-coming talent.

He said: “I look at what we do and where we have taken the players from in League One and League Two and Conference.

“We have lots of information on those sort of players, without a doubt. If we had more resources, finance and manpower, we could even get more eyes on all these players and get a profile on these players quicker. Of course, we could. But we have not got that.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“But in terms of information on players, I think we are right up there. But what we have not got is that spread into Europe and further afield.

“That would take a hell of a lot of doing, in terms of getting the amount of detail we have on domestic players. It is maybe something we could look at.

“We have started looking anyway because you can exhaust your pot really quickly.

“You are wanting to improve and get better value for money, so we have started to look abroad. Although it is difficult without the manpower.

“But it is interesting and we must try and make it better.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The employment of a new chief executive officer in French-born Gauthier Ganaye – who arrived earlier this month – should help extend Barnsley’s portfolio in that respect, with the former RC Lens employee bringing an extensive contacts base with him.

The 29-year-old Frenchman has already helped get several incoming deals over the line in his first few weeks with the hope of more to come, while also freeing up Heckingbottom to concentrate on his primary duties of preparing the first team for another Championship season.

It is a working relationship that will prove a key one in the weeks and months to come and the early signs are positive.

Heckingbottom and Ganaye may well be still bracketed as relative ‘youngsters’ in terms of their experience of both team and executive management.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

However, if ambition and drive count for anything, Barnsley look well blessed.

Heckingbottom, who worked without a chief executive for most of the second half of last season, added: “It is all new, but good, and Gauthier has good energy.

“There is no way he would have come over here if he was not driven and professional enough to be a success.

“That is my biggest take on it – if you are willing to up sticks and move to the fifth biggest league in the world where you know we are punching above our weight, you know we are taking on a big challenge, then fair play.

“It shows he is driven and confident in what he does.”