Cole Kpekawa's future at Barnsley could be at centre-back as he is set to spend the next few months getting extra work from coaching staff on the training ground.
After signing from QPR in August for a reported £450,000 fee, 20-year-old Kpekawa made the last of his four starts for the Reds in the 4-2 home loss to Fulham on October 15.
The England under 20s player came off the bench in the following game against Newcastle but has not featured since then and was not in the squad for Saturday's draw with Wigan. Head coach Paul Heckingbottom has chosen to play right-back Andy Yiadom on the left of the defence instead of Kpekawa, who was brought in to provide competition at left-back for the now-injured Aidy White.
Heckingbottom said: "Cole got thrust into the team earlier than we would have liked but we have an opportunity to get the work into him which he needs. We know we don't have the resources to buy the finished article at Championship level so we have to look at potential.
"We're just working on getting the buy-in from him. If we do, we could have a really good player on our hands. He sees himself long-term as a centre-back and he has great attributes to play there. "He's one player who we are really working hard on at the moment."
Meanwhile, Heckingbottom says striker Tom Bradshaw and Adam Hammill are both in contention to break into a starting line-up which has failed to score this month.
"I spoke to Tom this week and told him he's doing really, really well. He picked up a groin injury at a bad time and since then we haven't been beaten. He understands that. "He's pushing for a start, definitely.
"It's the same with Adam Hammill. He's working hard to get back in and he is pushing."
