Valerien Ismael’s situation at Barnsley becomes clearer amid Crystal Palace interest | OneFootball

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Football League World

·15 April 2021

Valerien Ismael’s situation at Barnsley becomes clearer amid Crystal Palace interest

Article image:Valerien Ismael’s situation at Barnsley becomes clearer amid Crystal Palace interest

Barnsley’s chief executive Dane Murphy has insisted that manager Valerien Ismael has given no indication that he would want to move on in the summer and that the Tykes have him on a good contract.

Ismael has performed an exceptional job for Barnsley since coming into the club to replace Gerhardt Struber and he has transformed their fortunes on the field and also the mindset of the club.


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The 45-year-old has managed to make the Tykes one of the best teams in the Championship. He has them in a very strong position to secure a place in the play-offs this term.

As a result, Ismael is starting to attract the interest of other potential clubs with Premier League Crystal Palace having added him to their list of potential candidates who could take over from Roy Hodgson if he leaves at the end of the campaign. That suggests that the Tykes could be set for a nervous summer regarding the long-term future of their manager.

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Article image:Valerien Ismael’s situation at Barnsley becomes clearer amid Crystal Palace interest

Speaking to Barnsley’s official club website, Murphy moved to address the links between Ismael and Palace and suggested that he does not believe that he wants to leave the club at this stage. While he also outlined that the 45-year-old is happy at Oakwell and that they want him in charge of the club for as long as they possibly can.

He said: “There is of course going to be interest in Valérien because of the unbelievable job that he’s doing, but he has given us no hint or impression that he wants to be anywhere else but in Barnsley.

“We have him on a multiple year contract, he’s at the front of our ship and we want to keep him here for as long as we possibly can.

“I think he really believes in this project here, and we value him so highly. He has been a real breath of fresh air since he arrived and has helped us enormously in making the strides forward that we’ve managed over the last six months.”

The verdict

This is a very encouraging update as far as Barnsley should be concerned with the Tykes needing to do all they can to keep hold of Ismael if there is any interest in him from Crystal Palace or elsewhere this summer. Interest in him is of course to be expected given he has performed a stunning job against expectations in leading the club potentially to the play-offs.

Having already lost Struber during this season, Barnsley will be determined not to lose another quality coach and it seems that the Tykes and Ismael are pulling in the same direction in terms of where they want to take the club. That project could be key to convincing him to stay at Oakwell a little while longer and complete the job of maybe taking them to the top-flight.

It seems from this update that the club are relaxed on Ismael’s future and they feel he would not agitate for a move to Crystal Palace even if they came in for him. That would be huge for them and show that he views the Tykes as being the club he wants to be with heading into next term.

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