Barnsley reject bid from Leeds United for top scorer Sam Winnall

Leeds offered an initial fee of £300,000 for the striker earlier today but Barnsley rejected the bid and are understood to value the 25-year-old in excess of £1m.

United’s approach for Winnall came after head coach Steve Evans insisted the club were still in the market for more January signings, despite owner Massimo Cellino saying new arrivals were “unlikely” before Monday’s 11pm deadline.

Winnall has been in prolific form for Barnsley this season, scoring 15 times and helping the club to the northern area final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

United’s bid follows a streak of six goals in his last six appearances but their offer today was dismissed out of hand.

Evans is looking for a new forward amid fresh doubt about the fitness of Leeds’ leading scorer Chris Wood, who sustained another hamstring problem in midweek.

Speaking this morning, Evans said: “If the president says there’s no more signings then there’ll be no more signings but the words I heard attributed to the president was ‘it was unlikely’. It was unlikely a week ago that we were going to sign the boy from Brentford (Toumani Diagouraga).

“He takes control of the financial situation so he knows how near we are. When he says it’s unlikely, he may feel that one or two things are slipping away from us. We’ll see where we go.

“My understanding is that we’ve got negotiations going on on several fronts.”