Promising Barnsley youngster Reuben Noble-Lazarus has signed a new two-year contract with Reds.  The young striker/midfielder made his debut under Simon Davey aged just 15 years and 45 days old – a football league record – however his first team opportunities have been limited since then with Mark Robins involving him in several games towards the end of the 2010/11 season.  Robins himself even intimated that Davey had perhaps brought him into the senior side too early.

Seen as something as a wonderkid, Barnsley fans will have been encouraged by Noble-Lazarus’ performances in the last few games of the season and by the impressive long-range goal he scored which proved to be the winner against Millwall in the final game of the season.

Noble-Lazarus certainly is a talented footballer, however he will need to maintain the right attitude and work hard if he isn’t to fall by the wayside like so many of the Reds other promising youngsters who only seemed to find their level around what is now League 2 and the Conference.

With the board taking a different approach to the building of the squad for next season, Noble-Lazarus should certainly see a lot more first-team action.

Another Barnsley youngster, Alistair Taylor, has also been rewarded for some fine performances in the academy team and reserves with a new one-year deal.  The tall right-winger has only seen around ten minutes of first-team action, coming on against QPR in April 2011, however he should be given more opportunities from the bench next season.  Taylor is almost 20 years-old, so a one-year deal possibly represents the feeling from the club that if he isn’t quite good enough for the Championship now, he possibly never will be.

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• Barnsley 1 – 0 Millwall: Match highlights and report (barnsleyfc.com)
• Barnsley 0 – 1 Queens Park Rangers : Report and Highlights (barnsleyfc.com)
• Barnsley teenager downs Millwall (tribalfootball.com)