Stoke City stance revealed as Barnsley make Niall Ennis move | OneFootball

Ennis is wanted by the Tykes after a tough seven months at Stoke

League One outfit Barnsley have made an offer to sign Stoke City centre-forward Niall Ennis on a season-long loan, and the Potters are willing to let him go if they can bring in a new striker before the transfer deadline.

TEAMtalk has revealed that the Tykes are after Ennis to bolster their front-line, with his game time set to be at a premium for the Potters this season, especially if they are to bring in another forward.

Ennis only joined Stoke in the January transfer window, but he has failed to impress in the Potteries and is set to be offered a chance to drop to the third-tier under former Port Vale boss Darrell Clarke.

TEAMtalk state that Stoke are prepared to offload the 25-year-old to make room for a new striker in the squad, and he could be a real asset to the Tykes' League One top-six chances this season, despite his poor spell in the Championship.

Ennis' move to Stoke has not worked

With Stoke struggling in front of goal just weeks into Schumacher's tenure, he moved to bring in Ennis in January, after becoming familiar with his game during their time together at Plymouth Argyle.

The Wolverhampton-born centre-forward enjoyed the best spell of his career at Home Park with 12 goals and six assists in 38 League One games under Schumacher in 2022/23 and joined Blackburn Rovers last summer, but endured an unsuccessful half-season spell at Ewood Park in which he failed to register a goal or assist in 11 Championship games.

Schumacher offered him a route out of Rovers to join the Potters in the winter window, but the 25-year-old netted just once in 14 league games, seven of which were starts, with his solitary strike coincidentally coming against Blackburn.

He failed to ever nail down a consistent spot in Schumacher's XI, despite a clear lack of other striking options, and has begun this campaign behind youngster Emre Tezgel in the pecking order for places, with his only start so far in the EFL Cup against Carlisle, during which he saw the 18-year-old come on in his place and then score within two minutes of entering the pitch.

Ennis is unlikely to force his way ahead of the likes of Tezgel, Ryan Mmaee or Sam Gallagher, and with a new addition to Schumacher's attack set to arrive in the next week, he could be best served accepting a move to Barnsley in a bid to revive his goal-scoring form.

Barnsley need new faces up front

It is very clear that Barnsley are after reinforcements to their final third options this summer after Devante Cole's exit to West Brom, but they are yet to bring in any first-team strikers, and Ennis would be a valuable option to add to their forward line given his previous League One exploits with Plymouth.

Clarke only has Sam Cosgrove, Max Watters and youngster Daniel Marsh as his current senior strikers, and the Tykes' boss has recognised the need to bring in new faces with deadline day edging ever closer.

“Everyone understands it’s a must we get forward-thinking players in who strengthen us and give us healthy competition," he told the Barnsley Chronicle.

"We lost a lot of goals last season out of the team with Devante Cole and Herbie Kane leaving. We need high-calibre replacements.

“I want at least a couple of strikers and potentially a wide forward as well because I like to change things in games if they are not working.”

Mansfield’s Davis Keillor-Dunn and Luton Town’s Joe Taylor are thought to be among the forwards that Barnsley are looking at, according to the Chronicle, but it looks as if they have moved onto Ennis in a bid to improve their attack, and with Stoke seemingly happy to let him leave.

Ennis can be a standout in League One, as shown by his record as he fired Argyle to the third-tier title under Schumacher, and he would be a huge signing that would be massively welcomed by the Oakwell faithful if Clarke can get him back to those sorts of heights this season.