During yesterday`s 1-0 defeat to Southampton, young midfielder Jacob Butterfield replaced the ineffective Mounir El Haimour in the 65th minute.
It was the 18-year-old`s seventh appearance for the Tykes and the youngster looks to be a positive up and coming prospect.
The midfielder has made only one league start for Barnsley, coming on the final day of last season at Ninian Park in Cardiff. The six substitute appearances for Butterfield have included brief spells on the field at St James` Park and Wembley in the League and F.A Cups respectively.
But with Saturday`s promising performance in the short time Jacob had on the field, manager Simon Davey must be contemplating whether to start the winger instead of Mounir El Haimour, who hasn`t caused any teams any bother as of yet.
Butterfield, who turns 19 in June, showed great composure along with a good first touch and didn`t shy when taking his marker on.
It`s a breath of fresh air for Barnsley who currently have no Academy graduates as a regular in the first team. Whereas the likes of Sheffield Wednesday have Mark Beevers, Richard Wood and Tommy Spurr, the latter of which has made over one hundred appearances for the Owls and is only 21-years-old.
However, a positive piece of news that came out of Oakwell the other week, was that last year`s Academy player of the year, Jamil Adam, has been called up to the Nigerian U20`s squad. Adam must be knocking on the door of manager Simon Davey, especially with the current striker crisis at Oakwell.
Hopefully Butterfield and Adam will get their chance, perhaps a run in the first team would do their confidence the world of good. The next time EL Haimour plays, some Barnsley fans may cry: “I can`t believe it`s not Butterfield!”
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Spot on Matty, El haimour ran around a lot but didn’t really impress, althoug he was far from being the worst on the pitch! As Butterfield stripped off I thought we were really scraping the barrel but he surprised me! Be good to see him get a start against Norwich. Glad to see back of Andy Johnson too!