Barnsley Football Club can confirm the signing of Tomas Kalinauskas following a successful trial period.
The Lithuanian forward joins on a one-year deal and will link up with our U23s squad ahead of the upcoming Professional Development League campaign.
“I’m delighted to be signing with Barnsley,” said the 21-year-old. “It’s been a really long road getting to this point and obviously this is only the first step but to put pen to paper on a deal with a massive club like Barnsley is brilliant.
“I’m just really looking forward to the season getting underway so I can get my head down and work on putting in the best possible performances for the team and try push to get in and around the first team as soon as possible.
“I’ve been at Conquest Football Academy since I was 14-years old-and they helped me all the way through to this point.”
Academy Manager, Bobby Hassell, added: “Tomas has not been in any system, which we quite enjoy when we’re getting him in because he’s been untapped and uncoached. He’s got lots of potential; he’s been on trial for 12 weeks from the end of last season and were recommended to sign him and he’s done really well since he came back in for pre-season.
“He’s an attacking player, he’s quick in and around the box and can go off either foot with a great strike – he reminds me a bit of Jacob Butterfield, the way he strikes it. Tomas is a bit different to what we’ve got; he’s a creative forward compared to the other lads, who are a bit more robust, in behind. He’ll get in between the lines and go past players on either side and scores a lot of goals in training.
“He played two or three games last year and scored two in them and did well. He’s got a real chance in the next 12 months if he develops; physically, we need to work on him.
“Tomas is a Lithuanian under 21, so the likelihood is now that he’s signed for a professional club is that he’ll get a call-up for that again, so there’s a lot of potential there.”
Welcome to Oakwell, Tomas!
