BARNSLEY head coach Daniel Stendel has urged supporters to temper their expectations ahead of the start of the new League One season - and feels the club have plenty of work to do in the remaining weeks of the summer window to be fully ‘ready’.

The German's second stint at Oakwell begins, as a competitive entity, on Saturday when the Reds welcome Wigan Athletic in an EFL Cup first-round tie.

Stendel's first spell at the club ended in promotion glory in 2018-19, but he feels that the scenario which greeted him when returned to South Yorkshire in the close season is different from when he arrived in June 2018 - when he took over a side relegated form the Championship with League One-ready players able to quickly assimilate with his style of football.

Stendel says that bringing in more players who can quickly fit into his high pressing style will be key between now and September 1.

Barnsley head coach Daniel Stendel (Image: Tony Johnson)

placeholder image — Barnsley head coach Daniel Stendel (Image: Tony Johnson)

Stendel said: "I want to do my best to bring the club back in the position when I leave this time (the Championship).

"But what I say is the opposite for most of the players in the squad (now). And some players are maybe not ready to play this time (style).

"And we have not every position occupied at the moment with the right player, with the quality.

"And I know in the transfer window, you need time. But on the other side, we want to change a lot of things.

Barnsley's Vimal Yoganathan (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe)

"And we have not all players in after six weeks. I hope everybody knows it. And I know it.

"It's (then) not so easy to say we have big (team) goals.”

Stendel is particularly keen for the club to boost their goalscoring options, with the three players have scored just over half of the club's League One goals last season in Davis Keillor-Dunn, David McGoldrick and Adam Phillips having all left the club in 2026.

He continued: "It's difficult to say how many, but we need more players.

"I think we need more goals. But not only one player scores more goals, we need also more players.

"From in the squad, the ones who also played in the last season here; we need more goals from them. Experience is not the big thing for me.

"The quality is important for me. And the quality for that, what we want to play, it means that we need power, mentality, pace to score. I think that's what every manager in every club wants. This is the point.

"I expect and I hope the players can score more goals in my second season (here), in League One. But we cannot replace, I don't know, 30 goals or like this (instantly).

"I expect the players to score more goals in this season. I think we need players that have shown in the past also that they can score goals."

Alongside the need for more incomings, further window speculation regarding the futures of key duo Reyes Cleary and Luca Connell is unlikely to go away in the coming weeks ahead of the deadline.

Patrick Kelly is also a player who is expected to be on the radar of other clubs.

On his hopes of retraining them, he added: "Yes, this is not my decision, honestly. But on the other side, we need quality players.

"When we say players; good players, really good players, then we need better or the same quality.

"I don't know how we can do it, but this is a decision to decide the club. We have to decide (as a) club because we have some goals, I have some goals. And for that, we need quality players."

On whether there has been recent interest specifically regarding the trio, he said: "I heard the same like you, maybe. There's a lot of rumours in social media and in the news.

"And everybody from the squad is here. I have not one player or I have not one news (item) from one of the players who will leave us this week or next week. I think it depends how big is the offer and the club wants to sell him.

"And when all is right, maybe yes, maybe not. But at the moment, I would say I plan with these guys. When we spoke to John Flackman earlier in the summer, he talked about recruiting to young style, young players, high energy, high press."

Stendel has confirmed that Mael de Gevigney (knee) and Clayton Taylor (ankle) will miss Saturday's game, while Vimal Yoganathan (leg) is out for a longer spell.

On de Gevigney and Taylor, Stendel said: "I think both are not fit this week. I hope maybe next weekend to start in the league. It's normal in the pre-season, you have some injuries.

"But I hope they come back quickly and can play next week."

And on Yoganathan, who sustained a pre-season injury in the friendly at York on July 22, he continued: "He's injured. He got an injury in the York game.

"I think he needs a little bit more time than the other guys. I think the first games he cannot play. He needs a little bit more time than the other guys.

"I don't really know it so much (length of absence), but I think he will not play in the next couple of weeks."