Ethan Pinnock insists he is happy at Barnsley and hopes that their promotion squad stays together in the Championship.
Star centre-backs Pinnock and Liam Lindsay both have one year left on their contracts with the latter again being linked with Italian top flight club Brescia.
They are understood to be among the players that the Reds are hoping to tie down on longer deals, a process which began last Friday with the announcement that Cauley Woodrow had signed a contract extension until 2022.
Pinnock, who played every league game as the Reds finished second in League One and was named Player of the Year by the fans, is admired by clubs in the top two divisions while Barnsley are expected to receive bids for him this summer.
He told the Chronicle: “When you’re at the top and the team is doing well, there will always be speculation. “I am really enjoying my time at Barnsley so I am happy here. It’s a really young squad who have gelled really well this season so hopefully we can stay together. I am just celebrating the promotion then preparing for next season and not thinking about anything else.”
Barnsley are understood to have offered longer deals to many others of the promotion squad. Goalkeeper Adam Davies’ current deal expires this summer and he is wanted by several other clubs. The players, who have been on a post-promotion holiday in Las Vegas this week, are considering those deals as Barnsley look to build their squad for the Championship.
Meanwhile, the Reds are expected to announce their retained list today. Centre-back Adam Jackson and winger Ryan Hedges, who each started just five games during the promotion campaign, are at the end of their contracts.
Lloyd Isgrove – a Wales international winger like Hedges and currently on loan with play-off semi-finalists Portsmouth – is also out of contract and expected to leave the club. The Reds have an option to extend the deal of left-back Zeki Fryers – who started three league games this season – into a third season.
Head coach Daniel Stendel told the Chronicle last week that the club would take up their options both to sign Mike Bahre permanently following a loan and extend Dimitri Cavare’s contract into a third year. Both German midfielder Bahre and French right-back Cavare played more than 40 matches for the Reds in the 2018/19 season.
The first concrete piece of post-season business was the contract extension of Woodrow. The striker, who scored 19 goals in 36 games during the promotion campaign which made him joint top-scorer with Kieffer Moore in all competitions, extended his deal by a year. Moore has been linked with a move to Bristol City, who are managed by former Barnsley boss Lee Johnson.
This year’s summer transfer window is different to last season’s. The Championship clubs voted last week to move their deadline for both loan and permanent deals to the same date as the Premier League. Barnsley will have until 5pm on August 8 to complete their incoming transfer business. The Championship season is due to begin on the weekend of August 3. Players could still leave after that as the deadline for clubs in League One and League Two is September 2 while other countries also have longer windows.
