Exclusive: Birmingham City Front Runners in Race for Barnsley’s Reyes Cleary

Birmingham City are one of the Championship clubs chasing Barnsley’s star man Reyes Cleary, SportsBoom can exclusively reveal.

The talented winger, 21, is attracting a lot of interest in the second tier following an impressive campaign so far for the Tykes.

Former West Bromwich Albion man Cleary enhanced his reputation, and undoubtedly his value, with a fine performance against Liverpool in the third round of the FA Cup. 

Barnsley chairman Neerav Parekh revealed at a fans’ forum earlier this week that the League One outfit have turned down four bids for their prized asset from Championship clubs this window. 

Blackburn Rovers are understood to be one of the clubs rebuffed in their approach and it is believed the Tykes’ valuation has priced them out of the race.

Our sources have been told there is interest from Germany and Italy as well as from the Championship for the player, who has been capped twice at England U19 level. 

Fits The Bill 

Birmingham City boss Chris Davies wants to sign attacking options at the Blues this window.

Earlier this week, Keshi Anderson left the Blues by mutual consent whilst Liverpool loanee Lewis Koumas has failed to hit the mark so far this term.

However, the club are also working behind the scenes to tie down Sunderland loanee Patrick Roberts to a permanent deal, with talks ongoing over extending his stay at St Andrew’s.

Cleary, born in Birmingham and came through the ranks at West Brom, penned a three-year deal at Oakwell in the summer and has five goals and nine assists so far this season. 

Chairman Parekh said: “We’ve turned down four bids for Reyes already from two different Championship clubs.”

“So we're not going to sell on the cheap. We're very sure that our best players should stay here.”

“There's a price for everyone obviously. But the myth that we're a selling club and we'll sell at any price I think is a bit outdated. We will sell if the price is right, like every club all the way up to the best clubs in the world. But we're not going to sell just for the sake of it.”

In the past, Barnsley have secured big fees for the likes of John Stones, Alfie Mawson, now boss Conor Hourihane, James Bree and Liam Kitching with Cleary set to follow suit.