Barnsley developments could be good news for Middlesbrough, Stoke, Cardiff: View | OneFootball

For many clubs, the summer transfer window will be the main focus for the next few months.

With the season now over, clubs can start to think about the business they want to do in the market, when looking ahead to the 2024/25 campaign.

At this stage, however, there are still certain clubs who do not know what division they will be playing in next season, as they battle for promotion over the coming weeks.

That, in turn, will have major knock-on effects when it comes to the transfer window, given whether or not clubs are successful in the play-offs, will impact both which players they can sign, and which they can keep.

Such circumstances do add an intriguing subplot to that final battle for promotion, which certainly delivered plenty more drama on Tuesday night.

Barnsley suffer play-off heartbreak at Bolton

On Friday night, Barnsley were beaten 3-1 by Bolton Wanderers in the first leg of their League One play-off semi-final, leaving them with a mountain to overcome away from home in the second leg.

With that game taking place on Tuesday, things started well for the Tykes as they went 1-0 up on the night, only to find themselves trailing 2-1 at half-time in that match.

That meant the Yorkshire club needed three unanswered goals in the final 45 minutes of the tie just to take it to extra time.

But while they would get two of those goals through Adam Phillips and Sam Cosgrove, they were unable to find a third.

As a result, Barnsley found themselves beaten 5-4 on aggregate by Bolton, ending the Tykes' hopes of promotion, and condemning them to another season in League One.

Beyond the disappointment of missing out on a return to the Championship, there is an argument this will also serve as a blow to Barnsley when it comes to one key player, something that could benefit one of a number of clubs currently in the Championship.

Barnsley may now struggle to keep Devante Cole

One man who has been a key figure for the Tykes throughout the course of the campaign, is Devante Cole.

The striker scored 16 goals in 53 appearances in all competitions last season, and then built on that from a personal perspective this time around.

Throughout the course of the most recent campaign, Cole has added a further 18 goals in 49 outings in total for Barnsley.

As a result of that, the 28-year-old has attracted plenty of attention from the Championship throughout the course of the current campaign.

In recent months, second-tier sides such as Middlesbrough, Stoke City, Swansea City, Bristol City, Hull City and Cardiff City have all been credited with an interest in Cole.

Now, the fact that Barnsley have missed out on promotion to the Championship, will surely be good news for those sides who are keen on the striker.

Currently, Cole's contract with Barnsley is due to expire at the end of this season, meaning he is set to be available on a free transfer at the end of this season.

Had the Tykes won promotion back to the Championship, then they may have been able to convince the striker to extend his contract at Oakwell, with the extra football and financial incentives they may have been able to offer through promotion.

However, with that now not going to happen, it may be hard for Barnsley to convince Cole to remain in Yorkshire.

Those aforementioned links with clubs already in the second-tier, mean that with the Tykes having missed out on promotion, a move elsewhere is his only chance of making the step-up to the next level.

It may therefore be a surprise to see Cole put pen to paper on a new deal at Oakwell, which would open the door for those interested clubs to move to bring him in for nothing.

Of course, regular goalscorers are both a valuable commodity and seemingly at a premium in terms of availability. Bringing in someone such as Cole to fill that role on a free transfer is surely an appealing prospect for many of those Championship clubs to have been linked with the Barnsley man.

So with that in mind, those events at Bolton on Tuesday night, now looks as though they ought to have handed a major boost to those Championship clubs, when it comes to their summer transfer plans.