Barnsley must be on red alert to £2m Middlesbrough transfer situation if Reyes Cleary seals 2027 exit | OneFootball

Barnsley should respond to the inevitable departure of Reyes Cleary by trying to sign Middlesbrough attacker Micah Hamilton.

Barnsley may well be destined to lose star man Reyes Cleary in 2027, be it in the winter or the summer, and the Tykes should line up a move for Middlesbrough man Micah Hamilton to replace him.

Over the past few years, Barnsley supporters have grown increasingly frustrated by the club’s hierarchy and its decision-making, fairly regularly selling star talents and setting the South Yorkshire outfit back.

It has now left them at the start of the 2026-27 League One campaign as a team that would do well to finish in the top six and the play-off places, rather than being one of the red-hot promotion favourites.

Despite that, though, they still boast one of the best players in the division – and yet all that has gone before would indicate Cleary’s departure from Oakwell is inevitable and, more likely than not, in just a few months’ time.

Reyes Cleary is destined for the Championship

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Over the summer, Barnsley still sold some key first-teamers, most notably Adam Phillips to Yorkshire rivals Bradford City, but they resisted the temptation to cash in on Reyes Cleary.

Cleary handed in a transfer request and was reportedly the subject of interest from Bristol City among others, but he instead remained at Oakwell for at least the first half of this season.

His trajectory remains upwards, though, and with Barnsley looking more likely to be third-tier also-rans once again this time around, it wouldn’t be a shock for him to move on in January.

The West Bromwich Albion academy graduate has continued to get his head down in the meantime and attempt to go up a level himself, though, with a strong start to the campaign.

The former Walsall and Hartlepool United loanee, who joined Barnsley on a permanent basis from The Baggies in the summer of 2025, has a couple of goals and one assist to his name for a Barnsley side that have won just two of their seven League One games under the management of Daniel Stendel.

Most recently scoring the equaliser for ten-man Barnsley against Leicester City, Cleary’s qualities were on full display in that game as an almost one-man attack.

Micah Hamilton could be a shrewd pick up by Barnsley

With Cleary continuing to develop and surely destined for the Championship sooner rather than later, Barnsley should seek to replace him with Micah Hamilton.

Micah Hamilton came through the academy at Manchester City, which is already a good indicator of someone with a lot of promise and potential.

The 22-year-old attacker, who can play in both attacking midfield as well as out-wide, was bought by Middlesbrough in the summer of 2024 for a fee believed to be in the region of £2 million – once again suggesting his quality.

After a tough couple of seasons at the Riverside Stadium in which he has fairly forgivably been on the periphery of things for a promotion challenger in the Championship, Hamilton endured a fairly forgettable loan stint at Stockport County in the 2024-25 season.

Still occasionally trusted by Kim Hellberg and believed in by the ‘Boro boss, Hamilton started for eventual play-off finalists ‘Boro on Boxing Day last year before being hooked at half-time.

That was the continuation of his stock dropping to a point where he is now very much on the outside on Teesside but, at the age of 22, would surely still be someone who can develop with more regular minutes at a lower level.

Barnsley need to get things right in the transfer market

There was perhaps once a time when Barnsley were viewed as a gold standard for a well-run club in terms of their transfer dealings but they have moved away from that.

There is a need for an identity to be found and to get back on track, and looking to replace big name stars with players yet to have achieved any at professional level may again appear foolish on first view.

However, it is a well-trodden path for forward-thinking clubs to buy and strike ‘on the down’ with regards to the reputation of a player, especially one at such a young age and one that commanded such a transfer fee after coming through one of the most successful academy setups in the world in recent times.

Trusted to be a part of City’s FIFA Club World Cup 2025 squad, as well as with UEFA Champions League experience behind him, and someone who has commanded a multi-million pound fee – Barnsley must recognise the potential in Hamilton, like they did with Cleary.

Cleary had been deemed surplus to requirements at Albion without the pedigree of Hamilton, who was capped for England’s U20 side on a couple of occasions in 2024.

Like Cleary, Oakwell could be the home in which Hamilton develops and fulfils the potential he has previously shown – and it would be a potentially shrewd move for Barnsley