Crawley striker Tyrone Barnett is on Town boss Paul Jewell’s lengthy wish list but is not one of the five bids currently on the table. The 26-year-old has attracted a lot of attention during the Red Devils’ impressive first season in the Football League.
Barnett was a youth player with West Brom before dropping into non-league with Rushall Olympic, Telford, Willenhall Town and Hednessford. He broke into the Football League with Macclesfield in the summer of 2010.
After 13 goals in 50 starts and one sub appearance in his only season with the Silkmen, the 6ft 3in tall frontman moved on to Crawley for £150,000 last summer.
So far this season Barnett has scored 13 goals in 28 starts and one sub appearance for the League Two high flyers, attracting the interest of clubs from higher divisions. Fulham, Wigan and Stoke were all reported to be keeping an eye before Christmas and Blackpool agreed a fee approaching £1 million late last week.
Speaking earlier this week, Crawley manager Steve Evans said his club had received several bids for the striker but with only the Seasiders’ accepted up to that point: "We received a number of written offers from Championship clubs and big clubs in League One for Tyrone, but the only offer my board of directors accepted was from Blackpool.
"Following a few days of telephone discussions with Ian Holloway and latterly chairman Karl Oyston, a transfer fee was agreed which was close on £1 million, and there were further incentives for Crawley when Tyrone had been successful.”
After talks, Evans says the player decided against a switch to Bloomfield Road: "Tyrone and his representatives obviously did not think it was right for him and it is always his prerogative to say no to a move at this time.
"As his manager I am delighted he is still with us and I just wished the transfer window closed today. The likes of Tyrone will always be subject to offers.”
Barnett is understood to prefer a switch to a club in the south and is unlikely to turn down a move to the Blues if the Blues firm up their interest.
We understand that the striker isn’t one of the five bids revealed by manager Paul Jewell this morning and may be viewed as an alternative option if one of the current offers doesn’t come off, perhaps suggesting that 21-year-old Hungarian striker Márkó Futács is the third Pompey target.