Barnsley have signed former Coventry City defender Martin Cranie on a free transfer.  The 25-year-old, who had trials with Middlesbrough and Leeds United, has signed a one-year deal.

The signing will go some way to relieving an early-season injury crisis at Oakwell with Keith Hill stating that he has only thirteen senior professionals to pick from as Barnsley take on Wolves on Tuesday night.  The situation isn’t expected to get any easier as none of those players currently injured are expected to be available until after September’s international break.

Jimmy McNulty, who had been subject to a transfer offer from Millwall, was injured in training last Friday and Matt Done was forced to come off early on in the one-nil win over Middlesbrough on Saturday.

McNulty and Done join the likes of Jim O’Brien, Mido, Silva and Steele in the Oakwell treatment room whilst the impressive young defender John Stones could miss the trip to Molineux.

Barnsley will be entitled to compensation from Bury should Keith Hill’s right-hand man decide he wants to take up the challenge.  The club would be entitled to block the approach but are unlikely to do so if Flitcroft shows any desire to leave.

More to follow.

The Barnsley manager had agreed a deal with Tony Pulis and Stoke City to bring in the experienced Carlo Nash to Oakwell, however Stoke wanted to have the option to recall the player early in September – this suited Keith Hill however Football League rules apparently would not allow this which meant the deal could not go ahead.

Instead, Hill has managed to secure the services of 30-year-old David Gonzales, once of Manchester City, and more recently of Brighton and Hove Albion.  Being a non-contract deal, there is no long term commitment from Barnsley and the player could be released once Alnwick’s suspension has been served.  Should the player perform well in the three games that he should at least play in, then Hill could offer the player a longer stay with the club – particularly if Luke Steele’s injury doesn’t improve.

With the first league game of the season just two days away, there isn’t likely to be much more in the way of transfer activity into the club however it is believed former Coventry defender Martin Cranie is currently in discussions with the club.  Hill is keen to make Cranie a permanent member of his squad however his wage demands are likely to be a point of contention for the Barnsley boss and director Don Rowing – the club have been increasingly cautious with the terms of player contracts to ensure that risk to the club is minimal.

Promising midfielder Paul Digby has been given a new three-year deal at Oakwell after continuing to develop and impress under Keith Hill.  Digby saw a limited amount of first-team action last season but is expected to feature much more during the forthcoming campaign. Digby along with John Stones, Jordan Clark and, to some extent, Danny Rose are considered to be first-team regulars of the future after coming through the clubs academy ranks – the recent departure of Jacob Butterfield to the Premier League will no doubt give these young players a boost after Butterfield also became an important player in the first team after being a part of the Barnsley academy system.

The Red’s manager Keith Hill has been searching for a new striker since a long-term injury to Mido has meant he is down to the bare bones in the striking department.  Harewood had been training with Sheffield Wednesday for the last month and the 32-year-old is believed to be fit for the new season and should be in with a good chance of making the starting line-up against Middlesbrough on Saturday.

This is of course Harewood’s second spell with Barnsley after joining on loan under Mark Robins during the latter part of the 2010/11, a period in which he netted four times in ten league games.

Barnsley are also thought to be interested in offering a deal to former Coventry City defender Martin Cranie.  Cranie was offered a deal to remain at the Ricoh Arena but turned this down in the hope of signing with a Championship club after Coventry were relegated.  After training with Middlesbrough and Leeds United during the summer, the 25-year-old is now thought to be holding talks with Keith Hill.

With an injury to Luke Steele and a three game ban for new ‘keeper Ben Alnwick, Keith Hill is also trying to tie up the short-term loan for a goalkeeper.  The latest name to be linked is that of Carlo Nash who is currently third choice at Stoke City.

There aren’t expected to be any departures out of Oakwell in the near future although it has been reported that Barnsley have rejected a six-figure offer for winger Matty Done from Crystal Palace.  Done’s first season at Oakwell could be described as an inconsistent one, however with Jim O’Brien out for at least six weeks, Hill simply could not afford to have his squad depleted any further.  It remains to be seen whether Palace will test the resolve of the Barnsley board with an improved offer.

Question marks could be raised over Alnwick’s future at Oakwell after assaulting Rochdale’s Ray Putterill in the closing moments of a game which Barnsley were on course to win comfortably.  It was Alnwick’s first competitive game for the Reds and Hill’s words to the media after the game suggested he was very disappointed with the player’s actions.

With the return to fitness of Luke Steele looking some way off, the Barnsley manager was quick to rule out the selection of  19-year-old Lukas Lidakevicius.  Whilst Lidakevicius is highly rated at Oakwell, Hill has told Radio Sheffield “I have to bring in another goalkeeper because Lukas isn’t ready.”

The Barnsley boss is thought to be trying to do a deal with Tottenham to bring back David Button who was at the club at the end of last season, playing nine games after injuries to both Luke Steele and David Preece.

The experienced striker had a successful loan spell with Barnsley under Mark Robins at the end of the 2010/11 season and finds himself back at the club under the new regime after spending time in China and more recently at another of his former clubs – Nottingham Forest.

Harewood had spent the last month on trial with local rivals Sheffield Wednesday, however Dave Jones was reluctant to be rushed into a decision to offer the player a deal.

The league season hasn’t yet started however Keith Hill already has a number of players out injured from a squad which still looks thin.

Mido is expected to be out for at least six weeks and will require further time to develop match fitness leaving only Craig Davies and Chris Dagnall as striking options.  The Barnsley manager will be hoping to see enough in Harewood for him to be a feasible option up front – at least for the early part of the season.

Harewood featured in a number of pre-season games for Wednesday and trained with the squad for about a month so fitness should not be an issue, the only question mark will be over whether he can have the same kind of impact he had the last time he was with the club.

Barnsley: Alnwick, Stones, Foster, McNulty, Wiseman, Mellis, Perkins, Done, O’Brien, Etuhu, Davies.
Bench: Lidakevicius, Hassell, Golbourne, Dawson, Digby, Cywka, Dagnall.

Boro, under the guidance of Tony Mowbray, finished in 7th place last season – five points outside the play-off places and will be hoping to at least break in to the top six this season after spending over a decade as an established Premier League club before relegation in 2009.

The Middlesbrough squad is made up of a mixture of promising youngsters and experienced multi-nationals including Dutch striker Marvin Emnes who provided the main goal threat for the North-East side last season.

Tony Mowbray has seen relatively little activity in the transfer market this Summer but it’s likely that three or four players will be signed before the end of August.  Versatile defender George Friend has joined from Doncaster Rovers and winger Mustafa Carayol has signed from Bristol Rovers – Carayol of course had been a target for Keith Hill.

Perhaps more importantly though, Boro have secured the services of some of their in-demand players by offering new long term contracts to full-back Justin Hoyte and Seb Hines.  They also have highly-rated ‘keeper Jason Steele on their books.

Former Barnsley winger Adam Hammill spent time on loan with Boro last season and they may be in a position to sign him permanently after being told he can leave Wolves for what could be a nominal fee.

Middlesbrough haven’t been afraid to spend big in the transfer market over the last fifteen years or so, albeit as a Premier League club, but with parachute payments to them now at an end and home crowds much lower than when they were in the Premier League, they are likely to find it even more difficult to compete at the top end of the Championship.

Last season Middlesbrough ultimately didn’t have the fire power to win enough games to ever realistically challenge for promotion with their main striking pair of Emnes and Scott McDonald weighing in with just 23 goals between them.  Without some quality additions to the squad, and a replacement for influential midfielder Barry Robson who left the club this Summer, Middlesbrough are in for another ultimately disappointing season.

Barnsley’s record against Boro in recent years has been somewhat indifferent although we did lose at both Oakwell and The Riverside last season with our last win coming early in the 2010/11 campaign.

Although technically Middlesbrough are a Yorkshire team, our games with them are rarely viewed a ‘derby’ match by the two sets of fans with Boro’s traditional rivals being Newcastle and Sunderland.  Being in different divisions, their big games are more likely to come against Leeds United and Hull.

To me, Middlesbrough are at the moment a side that I would neither expect to be promoted or anywhere near the relegation places next season and we should be able to look to the first game of the season against them with cautious optimism, especially as the game is at home.

Finishing position prediction:

Middlesbrough are missing three or four players which would make them genuine contenders for promotion this season and these don’t look like being signed any time soon – I predict they will end the season in 11th place.

Cywka began his professional career at Wigan Athletic but failed to break into the first team and later joined Derby County after a successful loan move.  Things turn sour for Cywka at Pride Park after Rams’ manager Nigel Clough publicly criticised the player after a mistake which led to an equaliser against Portsmouth in February last year.  Although Cywka did make several appearances in a Derby shirt following the incident, he was allowed to leave the club for free in January.

Following his release from Derby, Cywka joined Reading for the remainder of the campaign and even picked up a Championship winners medal.  The 24-year-old had been without a club after Reading decided not to extend his contract and now finds himself in Hill’s squad after being offered a one-year deal at Oakwell.

There was some concern before the game even kicked off with Mido looking in some serious pain and having to be stretchered off in the warm-up.  At first glance, and through the reaction of Mido himself, it could have been a serious knee injury however it was later confirmed that the player had suffered a hamstring injury that will keep him out of action for six weeks at the very least.

Given that Mido has been far behind the rest of the squad in terms of fitness, this new setback makes it less likely that the player will be making much of an impact in a Red’s shirt anytime soon.

Toni Silva is also set to miss the start of the season after twisting his knee against Rovers with Jim O’Brien replacing him after 20-minutes – Silva had only been brought into the starting line-up to replace the injured Mido.

Speaking to the Chronicle, Keith Hill has said the club may be “going into the season with 13 or 14 senior players”.  With just under two weeks to go until the league campaign gets under way, Hill will be hoping he can make sure this isn’t case with several more signings appearing to be required.

Simon Gillett, believed to have spent some time at Oakwell last week with a view to training with Barnsley, has signed for Nottingham Forest.  Hill is currently running the rule over other trialists with former Ipswich and Stoke defender Ibrahima Sonko being one of the names made public.