Barnsley FC head coach Neill Collins reveals John McAtee boost plus his thoughts on Mladen Sormaz and an injury update

The Luton Town player, on a season-long loan from the Bedfordshire club, has been a major success in his time at Oakwell.

McAtee was the subject of second-tier interest last month, with the Hatters having a recall clause that they could have invoked should they have wished. But the player insisted that he wanted to stay in South Yorkshire.

Collins said: “Macca and Devante (Cole) have been so good. If they continue to score the goals they have, we’ll be happy.

"It’s amazing when you have a player of the attitude that Macca has got. There was interest in January and while Luton were really happy for where Macca was, we were obviously very happy.

"He actually turned down the opportunity to go to the Championship, which I think says a lot about how committed he is to being here and how much he is enjoying it.

"He works so well and he has done really well and there’s still a lot of room this season for him to develop (further).”

Collins says that loan defender Jamie McCart will be available for Saturday’s home game with Leyton Orient - a former club - but Fabio Jalo will be out for a ‘few weeks’ with a knee injury picked up with the under 21s against Sheffield Wednesday late last month.

January recruit Donovan Pines, who played for the reserves at the start of this week, is likely to continue to be eased into the first-team picture.

Collins said: "Fabio is going to be a little bit longer. He’s certainly much better than we first expected.

“But he’ll be a few weeks yet. Jamie is going to be in contention for Saturday, which is good. He is progressing very well.

"With Donovan, would it be optimal to start him? Maybe not, based on his levels of fitness. But he’s trained and if we need to start him, we could.

"But I’d ask people to just bear in mind expectations. He played in the under-21s and played very well, given that it’s his first game in four months.

"It’s totally different to playing in a League One game in the middle of the season, but Donovan came in and acquitted himself really well. I’d be more than happy if we decided that Donovan would be part of the 11.”

Collins says he will speak to new sporting director Mladen Sormaz when he officially starts work at the club later this month as they seek to quickly establish a working relationship following his recent appointment.

Sormaz will head up football operations for the club, including negotiating incoming and outgoing transfers as well as player contract offers across the men’s and women’s sides.

Collins said: "Mladen is not officially here (yet) and I’ll have good opportunities to talk to him. I think, like anything, these relationships build over time.

"But I am really excited about the opportunity of working with someone (like) him, given the background he’s got.

"I think just having that person in position will certainly be a big help for me.”