BARNSLEY have turned down four bids for star man Reyes Cleary but are looking to add forwards in the January transfer window, while Conor Hourihane admits defensive changes will need to be made in the future.

Cleary, who has excelled on the left wing since signing a four-year contract last summer, is thought to be of interest to clubs in England and overseas.

Chairman Neerav Parekh told a fans’ forum on Tuesday: “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“But the myth that we’re a selling club and we’ll sell at any price I think is a bit outdated.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.”

Barnsley are mainly looking for wingers and strikers this window.

Parekh said: “Striker is one of the positions we’re looking for. It’s one of the most notoriously difficult positions to fill and it’s also a very tough position given the situation where (Davis) Keillor-Dunn is a guaranteed starter. He is also incredibly fit and plays 90 minutes most games.

“So you’re trying to get a guy with quality to come in to be second fiddle because we play with only one striker. So it’s a really hard balancing act in that sense to find that right player.”

Head coach Conor Hourihane added: “From a striker’s point of view, in my opinion, we need pace up there. Davo is top for this level. No question. Scores bags of goals.

“Didzy’s (David McGoldrick) obviously got that physical presence that can come on for 15-20 minutes to look a little bit different.

“I don’t think Davo is the type to get in behind and McGoldrick’s the same as well. So I think we need some pace up the top of the pitch to make us look that little bit different.”

The Reds have conceded 59 goals in all competitions this season and kept the fewest clean sheets in the EFL with two.

They have brought in centre-back Eoghan O’Connell this window to add to Marc Roberts, Jack Shepherd, Mael de Gevigney and Josh Earl, who is currently injured.

Hourihane said: “I definitely wanted to improve the defensive record. And that’s not been the case at all.

“I think from previous years, obviously, that’s been an issue. We tried to go about it in a certain way where we thought we’d shore up the defence and work on that non-stop.

“And I think ultimately now we’re at a stage probably where it just comes down to: we need new personnel in that area.

“I think that’s the reality of it.

“I think the defenders from a unit point of view, a lot of them have been here now for a bit of time. We put on training session after training session, meeting after meeting.

“You know, ultimately, after a while, you do look for new, fresh blood, new fresh people in that area, because maybe one or two of them aren’t at the level that we all probably thought that they may have been. So I think from that point of view, we’re hoping to improve on that from January onwards.”

He added: “We brought in Eoghan O’Connell, a 30-year-old who I really feel will help us for sure.

“I think it was really important to identify someone to help out the defence.

“I think, right now, to bring in another one, I do feel like someone will have to leave. We go back to the budgets and being a little bit tight with money.

“The top end of the pitch is going to be where we’re going to be focusing on after bringing Eoghan in.

“I do think to rejig the defence even more so, we’re going to have to be patient with that one until the summer or someone leaves in this window, potentially to bring in another.”

Hourihane has been working with several young talents this season and believes that will put Barnsley in a better position than some clubs who might be higher in the table currently but have older squads.

“I think if you look at Stevenage or Lincoln, they’ll have no assets in their club.

“Their team will be 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 and they’ve just gone for broke hoping for the best. So we have Patrick Kelly, Jonathan Bland, Reyes Cleary, Jack Shepherd that probably all add up to £12, 13, 14 million, something like that, whatever you want to talk about in terms of figures.

“We want to be competitive but go young. You look at Lincoln’s back four, 30 plus all of them, and they’ve gone pure experience and they’ve gambled on going up this year, and that’s their way of doing it.

“We just took a little bit of a different approach.

“Our way of doing it will come with a little bit of inconsistency. You know, asking Blandy and Patrick Kelly and Reyes to play at the level from Monday (at Liverpool) every single week is going to be a big, big ask for them.

“And we’ll have unbelievable days where we all see them playing unbelievably well and we’ll go to Exeter and really struggle because they’re not at the races.”