BARNSLEY have released 15 players including Aiden Marsh, Conor McCarthy and Josh Benson while starting negotiations with Stephen Humphrys over a new deal.
The Reds had an option to extend forward Humphrys’ contract by a year but instead are in discussions about a new one. He scored nine goals this season including five in his last five games.
Goalkeeper Kieren Flavell, who broke into the first team in March, has also been offered a new deal.
The 21-year-old is understood to have been monitored by Premier League clubs.
Also offered new deals are teenagers Luke Alker, Aaron Atkinson, Kieran Graham, Ziggy Kozluk, Bayley McCann and Tom Senior.
All except Senior have played for the first team, mainly in the EFL Trophy while Graham came on for his debut in the league on Saturday.
The Reds have activated their option to keep young defender Connor Barratt for another year.
Also released are Theo Chapman, Sam Cosgrove, Josiah Dyer, Adam Hayton, Charlie Hickingbottom, Nathan James, Jonathan Lewis, Jean Claude Makiessi, Emmaisa Nzondo, Donovan Pines, Hayden Pickard and Callum West.
American international centre-back Pines has barely featured under Hourihane, not playing since gifting Cambridge a goal in a 1-1 draw in March.
The Reds had an option to extend his deal for a year but did not take it.
Lewis, also an American international, signed a short-term deal in February but has not started, coming off the bench five times and scoring once.
Centre-back McCarthy, 27, has made 20 league appearances this season and 38 in all competitions during an injury-plagued three-year spell. He finished the season on the bench.
Midfielder Benson has made 95 appearances for the Reds in his four-year contract, but has started just six of the Reds’ last 122 league games since October 2022.
Strikers Cosgrove and Marsh, have been loaned out for the second half of the season.
Marsh – who is from Monk Bretton and turned 22 on Monday when players were due to be told if they were released – made 36 appearances for the first team.
Dyer, son of Reds legend Bruce, made one league appearance while Chapman made four. Several of the other youngsters appeared in the EFL Trophy, with Nzondo scoring a goal.
Also released are academy players Geoffrey Lundoloki, Elliott Probert, Kallum Reid, Maxwell Swift, William Thompson, Malachi Tommy-Mbogba and Owen Warburton.
