Barnsley FC can launch serious promotion push now big Keillor-Dunn fear is over | OneFootball

Barnsley have had a strong start to their League One season, and holding onto star midfielder Davis Keillor-Dunn can help them push for promotion.

Barnsley have had a successful start to their League One season, and retaining the services of Davis Keillor-Dunn could help them push for a return to the Championship.

With four wins from their first six league games of the new season, Barnsley have had a strong start to their League One season.

They're in fourth place in the table, and well-placed for a push for a return to the Championship in what promises to be a very competitive division this season.

And transfer deadline day passed without major incident for the club. The only last-minute arrival was Jake Rooney on loan from Derby County, but for many clubs, keeping your most valuable assets can be just as important as who arrives.

Barnsley have scored a major win by holding onto one of their biggest talents as the summer transfer window closed.

Davis Keillor-Dunn will be staying at Barnsley this season

The biggest transfer story of deadline day for Barnsley concerned one of their most highly-rated players.

There had been speculation that Davis Keillor-Dunn could be set to leave the club since the end of last season, but there was no last-minute sale and the midfielder will now be staying at the club until the January transfer window at the very earliest.

Barnsley had been braced for interest in the player throughout the whole of the summer, and the club's shaky financial position made it possible that they could choose to cash in on the player and secure their bank balance.

Keillor-Dunn, who was nominated for League One Player of the Year last season, has been uniformly excellent since arriving at the club from Mansfield Town in 2023.

And there was definitely interest, with the Yorkshire Post reporting as long ago as May that Queens Park Rangers, Wrexham and Oxford United were among those interested in luring the player from Oakwell.

Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough - the latter being a club whom Keillor-Dunn had spent time with as a youngster - were also credited with an interest in acquiring his signature, but the Tykes were said to have been commanding a fee in the region of £5m for the 27-year-old attacking midfielder.

But even though none of these rumours came to anything, there was still concern that the player could be snatched by another right up to the very last minute of the the summer transfer window.

Davis Keillor-Dunn was one of Barnsley's few bright sparks last season

The 2024-25 season was a difficult one for Barnsley.

A period of bouncing between the Championship and League One had ended with two failed attempts to get up through the play-offs, and last season brought a noticeable tail-off, with them finishing in a lowly 13th position in League One - the club's lowest final league position in twenty years.

Davis Keillor-Dunn was one of the few bright spots in a thoroughly uninspiring season for Barnsley.

The obvious stand-out figure from looking at his statistics is his goalscoring. He may be a midfielder, but he's reached double-figures in front of goal over the last five consecutive seasons, and there are a lot of EFL strikers who can't match figures like that.

And that goalscoring form has continued into this season, as well.

Barnsley have scored eleven goals in their first six League matches of this season, and Keillor-Dunn has scored four of them, a goal in each of their first two wins against Plymouth Argyle and Burton Albion, and a brace in their recent 3-1 home win against Huddersfield Town.

The importance of Keillor-Dunn to the Barnsley team cannot be understated, and keeping hold of him is surely critical to their prospects of success this season.

Keeping him this summer will prove inspired business. A promotion push looks more likely with him in their team, and head coach Conor Hourihane will be delighted to have retained his services.