Barnsley are hoping to bring in several players right at the end of this season as they begin what is expected to be a very busy summer.

Last season, the Reds signed Andy Yiadom, Stefan Payne and Kayden Jackson before they had completed their successful League One play-off campaign. They are aiming to be just as quick out of the blocks this time as Paul Heckingbottom does not expect any of the six loan players to stay while he is anticipating stiff competition to keep his out-of-contract players and even some who are in contract.

The head coach – who says the Reds need more than 12 players before the start of next season – says no deals with new signings are close to being struck currently but he hopes to make significant progress in the coming weeks.

"I hope that we will be able to bring in a few players right at the start of the summer," Heckingbottom told the Chronicle.

"That is a priority for me because we all know we will need a lot of new players in the summer. The longer we can have to work with the new signings the better. It takes a while to let them know what we need from them and how we play. So the next few weeks and months are a really important time. We're not close to any new signings at the moment."