With the senior side struggling in the Championship, Barnsley may need to turn to youth in the near future and their U23 squad is currently in the process of preparing for a new intake of players.

The Tykes are two points adrift of Bolton in 21st, crucially with a game in hand away at Forest tomorrow night. If the worse should happen, they may be hoping to promote from their development squad for any League One campaign.

Barnsley U23s slipped to the bottom of their division this weekend following a 3-0 defeat against Burnley, but manager Paul Harsley is already planning ahead for next season, expecting to see some new players coming through in the next few weeks.

"If we look back to where we were at the start of the season with a settled side and good players pushing on - a settled team - we were a good side," Harsley told the club's official website. "Lads have gone out on loan and done well - that’s what we want, that’s what we’re here for - and other lads have got injured, and it’s just turned into trying to put a team out every week."

With just a couple of matches remaining they're resigned to finishing bottom, but Harsley confirmed he'll be looking at fresh players almost immediately.

“There’ll probably be some more faces come in on Monday, and we’ll try and have a look at them in a couple of games and try and see if there’s any little sparks that might be good for next season.”

The Verdict

It seems they're struggling all ends up at Barnsley, senior team and the U23s. It is promising news that they're looking at new players all the time, even during the 3-0 defeat against Burnley they had a trial keeper in.

Maybe they'll find the next big thing, if they do and they are in League One it might be as good a time as any to promote quickly to the first team.