Hammill In Two Minds Over Move

Despite Mark Robins' concession that he expects Hammill to leave Barnsley, the winger seems to be in two minds about what to do.

The existence of the much talked about £500,000 release clause has finally been confirmed by Hammill himself as he spoke to The Star: 'It's true there's a £500,000 buyout clause in my contract, that was put in when I initially signed for Barnsley.'

Hammill goes on to describe how his potential was confirmed by both Mark Robins and ex-Barnsley manager Simon Davey: 'The manager at the time Simon Davey said to me that I'd play in the Premier League one day, but that for the next 18 months it would do me good to get some regular football and improve as a player. And now under Mark Robins I've been getting better and better. The gaffer has been brilliant with me from day one. He took me aside and said I'll play in the Premier League, but to try and develop more under him, which I have done.'

The 22-year-old winger seems to have a good head on his shoulders though and is determined to make the right decision for the right reason: 'I'm 22 and probably got 12 years left in my career, but if I did move, it wouldn't be for money. It would have to be for the right reasons. But this is a really difficult decision for me because I've got to weigh up how much game time I might get if I moved to a Premier League side. At the moment I'm getting regular football at Barnsley and enjoying playing for the club.'

Hammill has started every single game for the Reds this term and weighed in with an impressive eight goals along the way. He understands that the competition for places in a Premier League squad would be much stiffer and that therefore he wouldn't be playing every match.

He continued: 'I'm not going to rush my decision whatever happens. I don't want to move for the sake of it and money will definitely not be a motivation if I did move. If you move for money then I'd be moving for the wrong reasons.

The majority of level headed supporters would definitely not begrudge Hammill a move to the right top flight club and would no doubt wish him well in his career. But for now, we'll just have to carry on waiting for February 1st.

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