Barnsley FC chief Daniel Stendel on Ben Hamed Touré timeline and 'ruthless' challenge for Patrick Kelly

The former FC Annecy striker is in the early stages of his assimilation period into English football.

But Daniel Stendel remains hopeful of seeing something from the Ivorian striker before then.

Stendel said: "I hope earlier (than the break), but then again in pre season, he only sometimes trained with his team.

"But the first impression on the pitch is really positive. He looks really fit and powerful and his attitude is really positive.

"When you talk with him, you can feel he would like to start to play and show the people in Barnsley that he is really proud to play for Barnsley and this is a good sign.

"We will be careful with him, but we will see how quick he can play and stay on the pitch."

One player very much established in the Reds' line-up and a vital player for them is midfielder Patrick Kelly, who has also made waves with his country in Northern Ireland.

Stendel likes what he has seen regarding the 21-year-old, but with a caveat or two.

The Reds chief has challenged him to be more 'ruthless' in the final third and it constitutes fair comment.

The former West Ham man found the net three times for the club last term, but his only goal so far in 2026 remains his memorable strike for his country against France in a pre-World Cup friendly in Lille in early June.

Kelly is yet to get off the mark in 2026-27.

Stendel continued: "I think when I arrived, I heard a lot of things about him - positive things from the last season.

"He has really good skills and in my opinion, especially in the last few weeks, he's started to do more than I expected from him.

"He is a good player, everybody knows that, and I know that.

"But I think he can develop himself so much more.

"We will try to help him to do the next step in his career. I would say the next step - and I’ve talked with him since we started - would be that he decides games faster with goals and assists.

"I think he can be a little bit more ruthless in the direction to the goal.

"He has a good shot from the distance and especially when he is in situations in tight areas, he can develop a good power.

"But I would like that he is more direct towards the goal.

"But he is still young and we work every day with him and I really believe that he can do it.

"The good thing is that he has a lot of really good skills and everybody likes to work with players like him to improve them.

"This is the idea with him because then he improves our game and improves our team and then the chance that we have good results is higher."