Barnsley FC boss Darrell Clarke on big-spending League One rivals and where Reds are currently at in winter window
At around the halfway point of its winter equivalent, the Blues’ cheque book remains locked in the cupboard - do they really need anyone else anyway?
Elsewhere, others are showing their spending power in the race for promotion.
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Hide AdThey happen to be Barnsley’s rivals, including Huddersfield Town, who have signalled their intent in headline fashion to bring in two headline strikers with pedigree at this level in Dion Charles and Joe Taylor.


Across the Pennines, Bolton Wanderers may have sold Charles, but they have brought in a cultured midfielder to help unlock doors in Peterborough United’s Joel Randall for a reported £1.2m fee.
The smart money is on another club coming to the party at some point before the end of the window in the shape of Wrexham, whose Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have indicated that they are ready to splash the cash.
It has all the portents of being another window notable for its largesse in the third tier. For their part, Barnsley are unlikely to be one who go beyond their financial parameters.
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Hide AdThe fifth-placed Reds, who spent a fair-sized five-figure fee to land Davis Keillor-Dunn at the end of the summer, are in the market for a couple of quality recruits, with a new goalkeeping option and another forward likely to be high in their thinking.
Keeping to key players, most notably Adam Phillips and Luca Connell, is another obvious priority.
With two full weeks of the window remaining, head coach Darrell Clarke has pledged that the club will remain ‘sensible’ in terms of their recruitment.
Clarke said: "Let's be honest, the January transfer window is a tough one, isn’t it.
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Hide Ad"Because to get (leading) players out of people’s teams, shall we call it, is a lot of money. Some of the business that has been happening in our league, a hell of a lot of money has been spent.
"Sometimes, you can spend over the odds. We are quite sensible and that’s the way we try and do things to make sure we do the right due diligence and recruitment at the proper price.
"Because you can quickly start falling out of the ladder if you are making bad signings or signings with massive financial implications that are not working.
"We will keep with our message and keep working away. The recruitment team and my boss Mladen (Sormaz - sporting director) are working very hard and I am sure that the few quality additions we want will be added."
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Hide AdIn terms of outgoings, Phillips has been linked with moves to the Championship, not for the first time with Preston and Swansea among his admirers.
North End, of course, has been tipped to make a move before for the Lancastrian.
Barnsley insist that no bids have been made for Phillips or any of their leading players. Clarke, for his part, would naturally like to keep it that way.
Phillips, in particular, is someone he would struggle to replace, with the 26-year-old having that innate ability to find the net from midfield. For the third successive season, he is on course to reach double figures.
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Hide AdBarnsley have been here before in terms of keeping hold of their leading lights in the winter when in the promotion mix.
Do that and it would be an obvious tick in the box on one count, but for the transfer market to be gauged as a success from a Barnsley perspective by early next month, Clarke is also conscious of the need for a couple of new recruits.
Clarke, whose sole new arrival so far is left wing-back Neil Faruggia, continued: "We want to keep our best players.
"You never say never in this game, but the messages being given are that we want to keep our best players and that’s great to hear.
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Hide Ad"It enables us to hopefully strengthen this window and add to it rather than give some of our best players away.
"Listen, I'd like to add the players I want to add. That’s not going to change and I am not going to sit on the fence with that.
"I’d like the positions where we need to be strengthened. What manager wouldn’t?"
Trimming the numbers in his squad by moving on some fringe players who have struggled for game time is another important part of the window equation and something Clarke is particularly keen to do.
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Hide AdHe added: "It’s more me knocking on their door to be honest with you, telling them they need to move on, if I am honest.
"Some fringe players get frustrated with a lack of game time and not showing me enough to get it as well, to be honest. They have to go to pastures new to kick-start their career.”