Barnsley captain Adam Davies looks highly likely to join their Championship rivals Stoke City, dealing the first blow to Daniel Stendel’s ambition of keeping his promotion side together.
The 26-year-old goalkeeper has visited the Potters’ training ground after successful negotiations and the deal may be announced before the end of May.
Barnsley have offered the Wales international a new contract but, with his current deal set to run out this summer, Stoke can sign him on a free transfer. The Potters are expected to lose England international, and former Barnsley loanee, Jack Butland to a Premier League club this summer and view Davies as an ideal replacement. He has played all of his 209 senior games for Barnsley after joining from Sheffield Wednesday five years ago.
His exit would leave the Reds in need of a new goalkeeper with their first team squad only containing 21-year-old Jack Walton, who has played only six league games for the club. Jake Greatorex, a 19-year-old goalkeeper from Barnsley who has been on the first team bench but is yet to play, signed a new deal yesterday until 2020.
Davies – who is currently training with Wales in Portugal – excelled in the 2018/19 season, keeping 19 clean sheets and being named in the PFA and SkyBet Teams of the Year, while he also earned a first cap for Wales. But he was not offered a new deal at the start of the season unlike several of his team-mates.
His fellow Wales international Ryan Hedges has been offered a contract extension despite starting only five league matches and coming off the bench in 16. The 23-year-old has started only a quarter of his 52 league matches since joining from Swansea City in 2017 and has not scored in his last 41 league appearances since August of that year.
Rotherham United, Barnsley’s local rivals who swapped divisions with them by being relegated last month, are understood to be interested in Hedges. As he is under 24, any other club looking to sign him would have to pay a compensation fee which is likely to be comparatively hefty as he played regularly in the Championship.
