Conor Hourihane has suggested that he and many of his team-mates would have signed new contracts with Barnsley had they been offered last summer.
The captain is one of several players being linked with a move away from Oakwell in the January transfer window after he began the month with a stunning winner at Nottingham Forest on Monday. That was his fifth goal of the season while his tally of 11 assists is the most in the Championship by four and level with the most recorded in the division throughout the whole of last season.
The 25-year-old Irishman is out of contract in the summer, as are his central midfield partner Josh Scowen and top-scorers Sam Winnall and Marley Watkins among others.
They have all been in negotiations about new deals in recent months. Hourihane told the Chronicle: I'd like to see where this team can get to but, at the same time, the lads have earned the right to do what they want with their careers.
"I think if the club had come to us in the summer, before the Championship started, a lot of us probably would have signed a contract. But they didn't.
"It's up to the lads to decide their own futures and I think Hecky (head coach Paul Heckingbottom) has come out and said the same thing. It would be nice to stay together but time will tell.
"I would have signed a long-term contract last summer but nothing was on the table. The situation hasn't changed that much but we have performed well in the Championship so let's see what happens."
Hourihane has been linked with an £8million move to Aston Villa while Premier League Burnley are reportedly keen on Reds centre-back Marc Roberts. Heckingbottom said: "All our players are going to be linked with other clubs for the next four weeks. All the wins we get and the goals players score will bring more attention but it shows we are doing something right.
"My ideal would be to keep this bunch of players together. First of all, it is the club's decision. We obviously have a value on these players and they are very valuable to us.
"We've made money off players in the recent past by developing them and moving them on. So we're not in a position where we have to sell for the money which is great.
"You can be blinded by getting big money for your best players but, if it's weakening you, what's the point? If the club did agree to sell a player to a Premier League club, there is no way we would talk them around.
"What am I going to say? 'Stay with me, pal, don't go to the Premier League and be on Match of the Day every week and earn a fortune.' I know what I would be doing if I was a player in that position."
Hourihane is delighted to be eighth in the Championship and says the players will continue to keep pushing up the English league structure after they came from bottom of League One in December 2015 to win promotion last season. The skipper said: "It's pleasing where we are. There are good players in our squad so we shouldn't be looking below us, we should be looking up the table. Credit to the lads because most of them hadn't played in the Championship before this season, including myself, but we've taken it by storm.
"We've taken people by surprise and and carried on the momentum from last season. We had a tough period in October and November which was a test of character but we've come through it and kept climbing up the table with some good results against good teams.
"It only breeds confidence. We'll keep going and see where it takes us. In the last 12 months it has been a fantastic ride. There's no rocket science behind it. It's just been a lot of hard work from all the players and good management by Hecky and everyone at the club.
"We've all been singing off the same hymn sheet and it's paying off. We deserve the luck we're getting."
Hourihane was thrilled with the 30-yard strike at Forest which brought him his 30th Reds goal in his 131st game. He said: "It was a fantastic moment. I thought we did OK in the game but it looked like a 0-0. It was a pass from Arma (Adam Armstrong) which sat up for me and I hit it then luckily it went in.
"I have been working in training to get in the box more for tap-ins but it doesn't seem like I score tap-ins. It was special to score a goal like that in front of the fans and to start 2017 really well."
