Barnsley have ‘options one, two and three’ in their search for a new left-back while more players could leave on loan in the coming week after manager David Flitcroft said: “We will find out who we’re going forward with on this journey.”

Flitcroft has been working closely with chief executive Ben Mansford and the Reds board this week to ‘shape and balance the squad’.

The only area they are looking to strengthen is the left side of defence, with the manager pointing out that he still has not replaced Scott Golbourne, who left for Wolverhampton Wanderers in August.

He said: “We are still looking for a left-back as our final loan signing. We have options one, two and three. Option one is a Premier League player, option two is a Championship player who is not getting games and option three is a youngster from the Premier League.

“We have made our list and we are working through it. We need some cover in case TK (Tom Kennedy) gets injured. The only other left-back we’ve got at the club is George Smith (an academy scholar).”

Jim McNulty, who can play at left-back, joined League One side Tranmere Rovers on loan last week – he made his debut on Saturday – and Flitcroft says more players could move to other clubs on a temporary basis. He is attempting to slim down his squad of more than 30 players which is still smaller than most Championship clubs but larger than at Oakwell in recent years. He said: “We’ve got to balance and shape this squad and find out who we’re going forward with on this journey. We’ve got to keep improving the squad.

“The two-week break has come at a good time for us because we can sit down with Ben and the board and see strategically what we need to do in terms of whether we get some players out on loan. “Nults (McNulty) has gone out and we will try to get one or two more out.They need to get into a game rhythm if they are not playing for us.”