Barnsley told to beat Sheffield Wednesday, Huddersfield Town in Leeds United transfer race | OneFootball

Barnsley have been urged to be cautious over the potential signing of Harry Gray from Leeds United this summer.

Barnsley are preparing for yet another season in League One after The Tykes faded into mid-table obscurity last season and it is expected to be a very busy summer.

After the sale of Davis Keillor-Dunn to Wrexham in January, the writing was on the wall for Barnsley as they faded from the top six and play-off contention in League One with manager Conor Hourihane departing before the end of the season.

This summer is expected to be a busy one and has already seen a fair bit of business conducted in terms of outgoings.

Key attacker David McGoldrick has departed Oakwell and signed for Mansfield Town on a free transfer, while Adam Phillips has been sold to Bradford City and Jackson Smith allowed to leave for Port Vale.

As well as that, Jon Russell and Andrew Dallas have left on free transfers, joining Mansfield and Walsall respectively, with Marc Roberts, Tennai Watson and Max Watters all also departing at the end of their deals – with Owen Goodman and Scott Banks coming to the end of their loan deals in South Yorkshire, too.

That leaves Barnsley with quite a small squad and work to do – but caution has been urged with regards to their pursuit of Leeds United youngster Harry Gray.

Barnsley should be interested but cautious over Harry Gray

With Barnsley rebuilding their squad yet again this summer, they have been linked with a move for Leeds United youngster Harry Gray.

The 17-year-old has also been linked with Barnsley’s Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town and Sheffield Wednesday, as well as with Wigan Athletic.

However, despite it being acknowledged that he would be a promising addition, FLW’s Barnsley Fan Pundit Andy Symcox believes Barnsley should avoid going ‘all out’ for the attacker.

Andy says: “Harry Gray is an exciting young talent from Leeds United.

“It is no surprise to me that for a winger come attacker like Harry, League One clubs, including Barnsley, are interested in signing him on loan from our Yorkshire neighbours.

“He’s the son of Andy Gray, who played for Barnsley between 2009 and 2012 – played 96 games for us and scored 20-something goals.

“However, although I do believe he would be a good addition to our attacking options, he is 17 years’ old, 18 in October, and, while I would like us to sign him and think he would be a good move, I would not think the term ‘go all out’ would be the most sensible of spending our budget.”

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After the sale of Keillor-Dunn to Wrexham in January, it was clear that Barnsley were lacking both quality and depth in the final third with an increased reliance on the still developing but impressive Reyes Cleary.

Cleary remains, for now, at Oakwell, but the departures of key men such as David McGoldrick and Adam Phillips have again put Barnsley supporters in a position of worry ahead of the rest of this summer.

Daniel Stendel has returned to Oakwell and will aim to again get his Barnsley side playing front footed and intense football but recruitment is required in attack.

As it stands, Fabio Jalo, who spent the second half of last season out on loan at Oldham Athletic, 20-year-old Charlie Lennon, who managed three appearances after joining from Middlesbrough in January, academy graduate Leo Farrell and Cleary remain the only attacking options at Stendel’s disposal as pre-season gets underway.

Harry Gray would remain a punt but he is a highly-rated player, having spent the second half of last season on loan at eventually relegated Rotherham United, impressing despite The Millers falling into League Two.