Many Barnsley supporters have taken to social media incredulous at the transfer news emitting from Oakwell on this deadline day.
Firstly it was announced that full-back Kilian Ludewig had made a surprise return to parent club Red Bull Salzburg despite returning to Oakwell this summer on a season long loan following an impressive second half of 2019-2020 campaign where he had made 18 appearances and helped the Reds retain their Championship status in such dramatic fashion.
What has upset supporters most though is the reasoning given by Chief Executive Dane Murphy for the 20 year old’s sudden return to Austria after only seven appearances in 2020-2021. Murphy told the club’s official website that Ludewig “was vital to our divisional retention last season and shows the passion we hope every Barnsley player would for their club. Unfortunately his performances were inconsistent this season and the decision was made for him to return to RBZ”
However shortly after this statement Salzburg tweeted that Ludewig had joined German Bundesliga side Schalke on loan which could indicate that Salzburg had recalled Ludewig in order to loan him out to a bigger club.
If that wasn’t enough to digest, Barnsley looked like they had originally kept their promise to bring in a striker after announcing the capture of Jack Aitchison from Scottish Premier League champions Celtic…. Only to then announce that he would be going out on loan to an as yet unnamed League Two side!
The 20 year old has experience of English football having spent the majority of 2019-2020 at League Two side Forest Green where he netted six times in 30 games including a run of four games in a row between October and November 2019.
Aitchison became Celtic’s youngest ever player in May 2016 when he played the final 15 minutes of a 7-0 win over Motherwell aged 16 years and 71 days and then thus became the club’s youngest ever scorer as he netted the seventh goal!
He continued to feature for the Bhoys youth side and didn’t appear again for the first team until January 2017 when he came on for the final eight minutes of a 4-0 win over Hearts and then came on in the 77th minute of a 1-1 draw with Partick in May 2017.
Aitchison spent most of 2018-2019 on loan, firstly at Scottish League One side Dumbarton and then Championship outfit Alloa – netting once for the latter in a 2-1 defeat at Partick as the club avoided the relegation play-off by one point.
He grabbed a second debut goal upon joining Forest Green in September 2019, scoring the winner in a 1-0 victory at Cambridge, with his last appearance coming in a 2-0 win at Swindon in March before COVID-19 put an end to the League Two season.