Barnsley receive £1.2m transfer offer from League One rival Wycombe Wanderers | OneFootball

Wycombe Wanderers have returned with a second bid for Barnsley midfielder Luca Connell after their first offer was rejected.

Wycombe Wanderers have reportedly made an improved bid for Barnsley midfielder Luca Connell after their first offer was rejected.

That's according to the Bucks Free Press, who claim that Wycombe have returned with a bid in the region of £1.2 million for Connell, but it is unclear at this stage whether it has been accepted by Barnsley.

The Chairboys spent much of last season sitting in the automatic promotion places, but they were rocked by the departure of manager Matt Bloomfield to Luton Town in January, and they eventually finished the campaign in fifth under Mike Dodds before losing to Charlton Athletic in their play-off semi-final.

However, as they look to bounce back from that disappointment, Wycombe have brought in seven new additions so far this summer, with Mikki van Sas, Dan Casey, Taylor Allen, Caolan Boyd-Munce, Junior Quitirna, James Tilley and Bradley Fink all arriving at Adams Park in recent weeks in a show of ambition from their owner - Georgian-Kazakhstani billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze

Despite their influx of new additions, it seems the Chairboys are not finished in the transfer market just yet, and they have now made a fresh offer for Connell as they attempt to complete what would be an ambitious swoop.

Wycombe Wanderers table new bid for Barnsley captain Luca Connell

Connell joined Barnsley from Celtic in the summer of 2022, and after an outstanding debut season at Oakwell in which he helped his side to the League One play-off final, where they were beaten by Sheffield Wednesday, he signed a new four-year contract with the club.

The 24-year-old has been unable to reach quite the same heights since then, but he was named the Tykes' new captain last summer, and he was a mainstay in the team as the South Yorkshire outfit recorded a 12th-placed finish last season.

Connell was said to have been on the radar of Championship side Swansea City in January, and he has attracted further interest this summer, with Daily Mail journalist Mike Keegan revealing last week that Wycombe had made a "substantial" bid for the midfielder, which was rejected by Barnsley.

Keegan claimed that the Reds would not even consider an offer worth less than seven figures for Connell, but with the Chairboys' latest proposal said to be worth around £1.2 million, it remains to be seen whether their stance will now change.

Barnsley are believed to be looking to sell a number of key players this summer, but only for a suitable price, and Connell is not the only one of their stars on the radar of other clubs, with Middlesbrough and Charlton Athletic reportedly keen on forward Davis Keillor-Dunn, while Derby County, Oxford United, Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City are keeping tabs on midfielder Jon Russell, as FLW exclusively revealed last week.

The play-off defeat to Charlton was a disappointing ending to a season that promised so much for Wycombe, but the mood at Adams Park has been lifted by some exciting early summer transfer business, and landing Connell's signature would be a big coup for the club.

Connell may have struggled to recapture the form he showed during his first season at Barnsley, but he is still one of the best midfielders in League One on his day, and it would be a huge statement of intent from the Chairboys to steal the captain of one of their potential promotion rivals.

With Wycombe's latest bid surpassing the seven-figure mark, the Tykes could now be open to letting Connell depart, and with further high-profile exits expected at Oakwell this summer, the midfielder may feel he has a better chance of achieving promotion with the Buckinghamshire side.