Luton striker McAtee wants to stay with Barnsley for the rest of the season

Luton striker John McAtee has insisted he is staying at Barnsley despite rumours linking him of a move to the Championship ahead of this evening’s transfer deadline passing.

The 24-year-old was in impressive form for the Tykes recently, scoring seven goals in seven matches before the turn of the year, including winning the Sky Bet League One Goal of the Month award for December, after a stunning finish in game against Stevenage, while his brilliant effort at Port Vale was also nominated as well.

Although he has now gone six games without finding the net, playing 90 minutes of the 2-1 defeat at home to Exeter on Saturday, with nine goals in 26 outings so far, there has been interest from second tier clubs about trying to prise him away from Oakwell. Town chief Rob Edwards insisted he was ‘comfortable’ with the forward staying put, and speaking to the Yorkshire Post recently, McAtee echoed that feeling, saying: “I have experienced it in the past. Things happen overnight and you can't really put your finger on some things as an outsider when you know it is not you. But me personally, I am staying for the rest of the season.”

McAtee signed for the Hatters from Grimsby Town in the summer of 2022, loaned back to the Mariners last term where he had a disappointing spell at Blundell Park, scoring just four goals in 32 outings. He has turned that around this year though, and on why he thinks that is, talking to Sky Sports, the former Scunthorpe and Shrewsbury attacker continued: “I'd say the biggest thing for me personally is confidence, putting trust in myself to go out and play. Especially recently, I've started playing a lot more continuously, rather than when I first came, I was kind of in and out of the squad and I can only thank him (manager Neil Collins) for that. The results are starting to pick up, we've really improved - especially performance-wise. Maybe a few more additions in January can really (help us) push for that promotion spot."

Although featuring for Luton during pre-season, the forward is still yet to play a first team game for the Hatters, but is keeping an eye on his parent club’s efforts to stay in the top tier this term, adding: “I've watched as many games as I could, and I've been so impressed, but at the same time I obviously did pre-season with them, and I knew they were going to be there or thereabouts. I've got my fingers crossed for them and I'm hoping they stay up!"