Barnsley boss gives positive transfer news plus Callum Styles latest and updates on Josh Benson and Corey O'Keeffe

Clarke has made no secret of his desire to boost his ranks with at least a couple of new forwards this month, but him and the club have endured frustrations in that regard over several weeks.

But Clarke has hinted at developments as the clock ticks towards the end of the window on August 30.

He said: “I’d like to think we will definitely get one in before the weekend. We need that, but we’ll see.

"But my focus has to be a big game at home on Saturday so I’ll let the people concentrate on our targets and getting at least one of those across the line before the weekend.”

The situation regarding Callum Styles - an ongoing target of West Brom and someone who is on the list of other clubs - remains unresolved as it stands and Clarke reports no significant updates.

He added: "It’s an ongoing saga, I’ll be a lot happier man when we have got the players we need to get in and the players out and we know where we stand.

"It’s been a very frustrating period for myself and everyone at the club, to be honest, because we haven’t done the business we’ve needed to get done yet and it’s obviously ongoing, but everyone is working at their max to make sure that gets done. I understand that.

"Yes, there is big interest (in Styles) and there’s been a couple of bids, so we will see how things digest through the period and the rest of this week.”

Meanwhile, Clarke says he will deal with the dismissal of Corey O’Keeffe in house, following his silly sending off late on in Tuesday night’s EFL Trophy game with Manchester United under-21s.

He added: "It was right in front of us. We will be having a chat with Corey today. It was unacceptable. We will look at that, Corey is a great guy and model professional and it’s uncharacteristic. I will deal with that in house.

"It’s something I don’t want, it’s as simple as that. Discipline is very important. We can’t be losing players through suspensions and silly things. He’s got to manage his temperament, he’s knows better than that. We deal with it and move on.”

Clarke said that Josh Benson came through unscathed following his appearance against United and says the club are monitoring Max Watters (hamstring).

He continued: "It was important for Josh. He’d only done one full day’s training, so it was great to get him through 45 minutes. Everyone knows Josh is a good player, but he has to get through stages where he is not injured. He knows that.

"Mentally it has been very challenging for him over the last two or three years and hopefully he can start to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. But that will be a process which takes a little bit of time.

"He (Watters) came off with a hamstring and we are reviewing it every single day.”