Barnsley FC warned to "expect big bids" for player Tykes do not want to lose | OneFootball

FLW's Barnsley fan pundit is expecting there to be interest in Davis Keillor-Dunn this summer.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Barnsley will be disappointed with how their 2024/25 League One campaign has panned out.

The Tykes find themselves 12th in the table going into the final day of the season, and if they suffer defeat away from home against play-off chasers Reading this weekend, they could finish in the bottom half of this division for the first time in 20 years depending on results elsewhere.

The club will no doubt have been aiming to mount a promotion push in the third tier this term, but having put themselves in contention to achieve a top-six finish during the first half of the season, they fell adrift of the play-off places after the turn of the year.

That resulted in Darrell Clarke being relieved of his duties in March, with Conor Hourihane now in permanent charge and preparing to oversee a more successful 2025/26 campaign.

Despite their underwhelming season, there are a couple of positives that Barnsley can take from the last nine months, with the most obvious being the emergence of Davis Keillor-Dunn as one of the most exciting forwards in League One following his summer arrival from Mansfield Town.

Summer transfer warning fired to Barnsley

We asked our Barnsley fan pundit, Andy Symcox, which player he does not want the club to lose this summer, and he was quick to pick out Keillor-Dunn.

"One player I would not want us to lose this summer is Davis Keillor-Dunn," Andy said.

"He came to us at the end of the summer transfer window from Mansfield Town and has had a phenomenal season for us as our top scorer and links well with all other players.

"There are others who I would love to retain, but Davis Keillor-Dunn is the number one priority for me.

"I expect big bids to come in for him from other clubs."

Keillor-Dunn could attract interest this summer

Barnsley worked hard to sign Keillor-Dunn from newly-promoted League One side Mansfield last summer, with it taking several weeks before they finally completed a deal worth around £700,000 to land the attacker on a three-year deal with the option of a further year.

The 27-year-old scored 22 goals and provided nine assists in League Two for the Stags as they won promotion to the third tier during the 2023/24 campaign, but Barnsley supporters may not have expected him to have quite such a big impact during his debut season at Oakwell.

Keillor-Dunn has regularly featured up front for the Tykes this term, despite having often been deployed as an attacking midfielder previously in his career, and his goal return suggests that it has been a wise decision - only four players have netted more in League One.

Given that Barnsley have been unable to compete for promotion this season, combined with the fact that Keillor-Dunn is in the prime years of his career, it would be no surprise to see him make a move to the Championship this summer.

While that would undoubtedly be a blow for Barnsley, the club should receive a significant transfer fee if they do sell their talisman, which could enable Hourihane to build a team capable of competing at the top end of the division next season as long as the money is reinvested into the squad.