Barnsley sporting director Mladen Sormaz believes they have added quality to the squad during a winter window which has been difficult for all clubs.
The Reds signed four players, including deadline day arrivals Clement Rodrigues and Dexter Lembikisa, while loaning out fringe players such as Sam Cosgrove and Kyran Lofthouse and selling goalkeeper Ben Killip. They are looking for another forward in the free agent market.
Speaking to the club media team, Sormaz said: “In terms of getting quality in, we brought in four players with really specific qualities from good levels. The window is more reactive than others and, with a lot of clubs, it’s one in one out. We had targets set really early, with contact in December, but the clubs can’t guarantee that player is going out. It’s similar to us with letting Sam Cosgrove out.
"That’s not the case in the summer. And it’s just one month compared to three or four.
“We make sure everything is done early, the negotiation is done, and the only thing we’re waiting on is for the player to become available so we can bring him in and some of that is out of our hands.
“We’re happy that we managed to rebalance the squad in general, more of our young players are playing football and a tighter squad is easier to manage. It can be tough with a chunky squad with guys who know they are not going to be involved but everyone in there now knows they have a part to play in the push for promotion.”
He added: “You can always get one or two more bodies in. But we had to think about who is going to contribute and who we might have forgotten about because they are injured who will come back.”
Barnsley are thought to have had some preliminary inquiries for their starting midfielders but were always determined not to sell.
Sormaz said: “We did have approaches in the summer and now but our stance was really firm and clear, aligned with the ownership, that we weren’t going to lose any of our best players this season.
“None of the players have come to us asking to leave. I think this shows quite a lot of buy-in in terms of what Darrell is doing and the fact that our squad is on the same page for what the target is for the season.”
Rodrigues came in from French second tier club Bastia. Sormaz said: “We consulted Darrell about what he wanted from the striker coming in. What he felt we needed was a guy who could stretch the game, was physically really good, could get in behind and play as a bit of a target man. That’s not a profile which is abundant on the market in January. Clement was someone we had been aware of before and he came up as an option we were happy to take midway through this window.”
Sormaz added: “The standard he’s coming from is the equivalent to mid-Championship to upper League One. He’s had a promising start there and we think he can contribute.”
Barnsley trimmed their squad down by moving on several fringe players. Sormaz said: “We felt like we had our core in November and, after consulting with Darrell, we knew who was part of the longer-term plan. That determined who the outs were going to be. We have to balance the budget as well to bring the proper players in.”
Wing-back Kyran Lofthouse went to Burton Albion on loan. Sormaz said: “Kyran wasn’t that involved. We had an open and honest conversation that, if the right opportunity came up and we could get a high-quality replacement like Dexter, we would let him out and keep the squad balance. He will come back to us a better player with more experience.”
