Elliot Simoes will return to Barnsley ‘a better player’ believes Doncaster Rovers boss Darren Moore

Rovers have acted quickly in the January transfer market and will have two new players available for tomorrow’s FA Cup trip to Blackburn Rovers in Simoes and goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe. Now their biggest issue will be keeping hold of captain Ben Whiteman in light of interest led by Preston North End, and replacing him if they are unable to.

Moore has cut short Rayhaan Tulloch’s injury-plagued loan from West Bromwich Albion and borrowed Simoes from Barnsley until the end of the season, whilst Balcombe joins from Brentford until the end of the campaign. The 21-year, who has not played English league football, but has had loans in non-league and in Denmark’s second tier, takes the place of Joe Lumley, who had been on a series of emergency loans since Josef Bursik was recalled by Stoke City in November. Queens Park Rangers are now in talks to extend Lumley’s contract beyond the summer.

“We’re really, really pleased and we had to do it because we knew the situation with both players (Tulloch and Lumley),” said Moore of the two signings.
“We had the goalkeeping situation and with Rayhaan we had to sort it out as well in terms of that.

“Two weeks ago we never thought we’d have so many games called off. There’s been a massive shift in our season in terms of the number of games ahead of us so we had to act really quickly to meet those demands.

“Rayhaan’s making wonderful progress (in his return from injury), it’s just felt we needed somebody available here and now in terms of the huge schedule ahead.

“Ellery’s looking for the opportunity to play first-team football so he ticks the box for both parties.”

Barnsley coach Valerien Ismael questioned Simoes’s work ethic and professionalism before letting him go but former Oakwell defender Moore says he has no concerns on that score.

“The slate’s wiped clean here,” he insisted.

“I can’t comment on what happened at Barnsley but at Doncaster we know the culture and the ethos of the football club and what we’ve got in the first-team dressing room. He’s certainly come into a football club with all those ethics and values and I don’t see a problem at all.

“I’m pleased to have the opportunity to work with him so we can only thank Barnsley and certainly when we send him back he will be a better player.

“Elliot’s coming as a wonderful attack-minded player, he’s got wonderful feet, moves well with the ball, he’s very clever and decisive with his movement and if we can get him in positions where he can score goals he can finish as well.

“He’s a wonderful acquisition to the squad.

“We’ll get him settled down and I’m sure he’ll be another asset for us.

“Both of them have the opportunity because they’ve got the attributes that we think fit us.

“From their perspective it’s an opportunity to play some football and be part of a group of players trying to max out what we are.”

Rovers are fourth in a League One table complicated by so many sides having played different numbers of matches.

Winger Tulloch made just two appearances for them, a week apart in mid-September, before succumbing to a hamstring injury, then various minor setbacks in his recovery.

It has been a running theme of recent transfer windows for Championship clubs to show an interest in Whiteman but the midfielder is part of the squad preparing to face Blackburn, and Moore was keen to spend as little time talking about potential moves as possible.

“Preston have made an offer and it’s been rejected by the club,” he confirmed. “There’s not much more to talk about.

“At the moment he’s part of the group, he’s trained. We’ll see when it comes to the weekend but he’s still part of the group.

“You’d have to speak to the board and the directors (about their valuation), that’s all I can say. They’re the ones that deal with the figures.”

He was prepared to admit, though, that if Whiteman was to leave, he would want to go back into the transfer market for a replacement.

“He’s a huge component for us in terms of where we’re going so you’d like to think that but at the moment we don’t need a midfield player,” he said. “Other clubs do, but we’ve got ours so that’s how it stands. There’s no point speaking about it.

“There’s parts to his game he’s added to this season that we spoke about in pre-season and it’s good to see. That’s probably why that interest is there.”

Madger Gomes’s recovery from injury has been set back by the recent closure of Doncaster’s training ground because of Covid-19, and the midfielder is not expected to feature until next month.

Support The Yorkshire Post and become a subscriber today. Your subscription will help us to continue to bring quality news to the people of Yorkshire. In return, you’ll see fewer ads on site, get free access to our app and receive exclusive members-only offers. Click HERE to subscribe.