"Hope he returns to Chelsea" - Barnsley FC: Brutal claim made on Gabriel Slonina | OneFootball

We asked our Barnsley fan pundit about how Gabriel Slonina is faring after his summer loan move from Chelsea

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Barnsley have been urged to send loan goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina back to Chelsea in January and replace him with an experienced player following a tough start to life at Oakwell.

The 20-year-old USA international was seen as a coup for Barnsley when he completed a season-long loan deal to join Darrell Clarke's side from Chelsea, but he was dropped in October before suffering an injury which has kept him out of action since.

Chelsea forked out a fee of around £8million to sign him as an 18-year-old two years ago from MLS side Chicago Fire, but he's yet to make his first-team debut for the Blues, understandable given their strength in depth, and has spent time on loan with Chicago Fire and Eupen before joining Barnsley.

However, despite a positive debut which saw him save penalties in a penalty shootout against Wigan Athletic in the EFL Cup, Slonina hasn't been unable to live up to expectations, and Barnsley have been told to send him back to Chelsea.

Barnsley told to send Gabriel Slonina back to Chelsea

We asked our Barnsley fan pundit, Andy Symcox, what the club should do with Slonina in January, and it's clear that he feels they need better than the Chelsea loanee.

Speaking to Football League World, Andy said: "Regarding Gabriel Slonina, he’s currently out injured with a finger injury but had been dropped prior to that for making a number of unforced errors.

"I am aware that Chelsea paid £7.7million for him, and with no disrespect intended to the player, because clubs pay what they believe to be a reasonable sum, I find it a ridiculous amount.

"He’s only young, 20 years old, so plenty of time to develop into a top goalkeeper, but I have to say that I currently just don’t see it at all, and I sincerely hope that he returns to Chelsea in January.

"His current replacement Ben Killip is doing pretty good, but it’s always intelligent for football clubs to look at players in a range of different positions, including goalkeepers, so I would hope that if we did look at another goalkeeper in January to replace Slonina who we must send back, I’d hope it would be a very experienced goalkeeper and not a young player who must develop their potential."

Gabriel Slonina hasn't been good enough for Barnsley this season

In his 14 appearances for Barnsley so far this season, Slonina has conceded 24 goals and kept two clean sheets, a damning statistic which highlights his struggles.

Of course, not every single goal conceded is the goalkeeper's fault, but as Andy mentioned, there have been unforced errors by the American international, and even prior to injury, he'd been dropped by Clarke in favour of Killip.

Slonina is still only young, and he clearly has talent for a club like Chelsea to sign him after starring in the MLS at a young age, as well as becoming the USA's youngest-ever goalkeeper, but it's just not worked out for him at Oakwell, and it's best for both parties if he heads back to West London in January.

Chelsea won't want him sitting on the bench behind Killip when he regains full fitness, and a return to Stamford Bridge in January would allow Enzo Maresca the chance to assess the situation and decide whether to loan him out elsewhere for the second part of the season.