11 players you probably forgot ever played for Barnsley | OneFootball

Barnsley are looking to get into the Premier League this season and certainly look very capable of doing that at the moment.

A superb run of seven straight wins in the Championship was achieved at the weekend as they saw off Birmingham City 1-0 and with a game in hand on fifth placed Reading who are only three points above them, the Tykes are very much part of the play-off conversation this season.

The players have the opportunity to be Oakwell heroes, then, but can you remember when the following eleven players featured for the Tykes in the past?

There are lots to have come through the club in recent years and here we’re taking a look at a collection that were only at the club briefly for various reasons.

See if you remember all of them being decked in Barnsley red…

Chris Wood made 7 appearances for the Tykes during a loan spell from West Bromwich Albion.

The forward spent a lot of time out on loan during his early years in this country and Barnsley were just one of the EFL clubs where he would spend a bit of time.

The likes of Brighton, Birmingham and Millwall all had him on their books at one point for a temporary spell with him eventually joining Leicester permanently in 2013.

He played for Leeds United and excelled in the Championship, too, with that then earning him a move to Burnley in the Premier League.

He’s still with the Clarets, of course, and scored a freak goal on Saturday against Arsenal. Jay Rodriguez is another current Burnley player that spent time at Barnsley earlier on his career.

Rodriguez has had injury problems at times over the years but his quality has been undeniable and we’ve seen him play for the likes of Southampton and West Brom as well as his local team at Turf Moor.

A brief loan at Barnsley came about in 2010 with him playing 6 games for the Tykes in the league and scoring one goal for them.

Indeed, another brief loan saw him at Stirling Albion before that but it is in the Premier League where we have really seen him make his name in the 10 or so years since. Callum Elder spent a short loan at Barnsley as one of the many spells he had away from his parent side Leicester City.

He would play for the likes of Mansfield Town, Peterborough United and Brentford as he got firmly to grips with English football but he never really managed to force his way in at the Foxes.

Indeed, he signed for Hull City in 2019 and remains there as the Tigers look to earn promotion out of League One this season at the first time of asking.

He’s made over 60 league appearances for the KCOM club since arriving. Marcello Trotta is probably most famous for his loan spells at Brentford from parent club Fulham but he also spent time at Barnsley during his years in England.

He spent time with Wycombe and Watford before the loan to Brentford where he was quite the threat going forwards but he may ultimately be remembered for that penalty fiasco against Doncaster Rovers towards the end of the 2012/13 League One season.

Meanwhile, he joined Barnsley on loan in 14/15 but only played a handful of games before heading to Italy.

He currently plays for Serie B side Cosenza on loan from Frosinone.

Brek Shea is an American international and currently plays for Inter Miami.

He’s recognisable thanks to his long blonde hair and we saw it in Barnsley red back in 2014.

He was on the books at Stoke City for a season and struggled to get into their team so moved to Oakwell on loan.

He made 8 league appearances for the club and also moved on loan to Birmingham City during his time in England.

It never really worked for him, though, and he headed back Stateside soon after with the likes of Orlando City and Atlanta United employing him. Declan John has been on the books at some big clubs in his time with spells at Rangers and Sunderland on his CV so far – though he never made a league appearance for the Black Cats.

He did, though, appear for Barnsley during a loan in 2015 from parent side Cardiff City with him featuring 9 times in the league.

He also played for the likes of Chesterfield in that time and is currently on loan again at Bolton Wanderers from parent side Swansea City. Paul McShane has had a long career and has played for several sides during his time in this country after arriving from the Republic of Ireland.

He was on the books of Manchester United as a young player but never made a league appearance for them, instead moving to West Brom in 2006.

He also featured for the likes of Sunderland and Hull City at the best points in his career as he featured in the Premier League with his time at the Tigers perhaps what he is best known for.

During that time, though, he also spent a period away from the club on loan and Barnsley were one of the clubs to receive him, as he made 10 league appearances for the Tykes.

McShane now plays for Rochdale as they fight for survival in League One. Frank Nouble has had quite the career in terms of the number and variety of clubs he has played for.

Indeed, at 29 he’s still got plenty of time left to add to his CV and it remains to be seen if he does just that.

He’s currently on loan at Colchester United where he has spent time before permanently whilst he’s also played for the likes of West Ham, Wolves, Ipswich, Gillingham, Newport and a host of clubs in the Far East.

Time at Barnsley, meanwhile, came as one of several loan spells away from the Irons at the start of his career with him joining the Tykes in 2011.

He made 4 league appearances for the Oakwell club but didn’t manage to register a goal. Simeon Jackson is another player to have played for a lot of clubs – perhaps not as many as Nobule though.

The striker is now playing for Chelmsford City in non-league football but featured for the likes of Norwich, Coventry, Blackburn and Millwall during his best years.

A brief spell at Barnsley came in 2015/16, meanwhile, with him making 9 appearances for the Tykes.

He’s also played in Scotland for the likes of Kilmarnock and St Mirren. Korey Smith is currently with Swansea City as he looks to help get them back into the Premier League this season under Steve Cooper.

He is a talented midfielder that has not had much luck at times with injuries but he is a player that can produce good performances when fit and firing.

His time at Barnsley came in 2012 on loan from Norwich City where he made 12 appearances for the men from Oakwell.

That wasn’t his only loan away from Carrow Road, meanwhile, with Yeovil and Oldham also on the agenda during his early days as a player. Kadeem Harris is in Yorkshire now with Sheffield Wednesday as the Owls look to fight relegation from the Championship – a task that is proving tough at the moment.

Harris has been in and around several EFL clubs during his career so far and a spell at Barnsley has also been achieved during that time.

He arrived on loan from Cardiff City who had signed him from Wycombe, with him joining the Tykes in 2015.

He made 11 league appearances for the club during that time with him then heading back to the Bluebirds.

He joined the Owls in 2019 and has made over 70 league appearances for the club in that time.