Forward working hard to regain lost fitness after eventful pre-season

Latest club signing Marcus Haber will have to catch-up on his lost fitness after enduring a disruptive pre-season. The Canadian International signed a two-year deal with the club last week after Stevenage elected not to extend his contract.

The 6’3” target man returned to his native Canada and initially trained with his hometown club Vancouver Whitecaps before being invited back to Great Britain to train with Barnsley.

Haber, 25, has only played 60 minutes for the Tykes in their pre-season encounter against a Manchester United XI, so he is understandably behind with his fitness.

Haber may still be used as an impact substitute against Fleetwood on the opening day of the season, but Davis will resist the temptation to bring him into the action before he is truly ready.

Steve explained to crewealex.net: “Marcus is training but he is playing catch up with his fitness at the moment. We have assessed him and tested him and he is understandably behind.

“We have been in for the past eight weeks, while he has been back to Canada where he trained with Vancouver Whitecaps for a short spell before coming over to Barnsley. He only did a few days with them and then played for an hour in a friendly before coming here, so he is a few weeks behind the others.

“He knows that and he is working hard and hopefully after a couple of weeks he will be considered fit enough for the first team. I could use him as an impact substitute and know he will be a nuisance up there for 15/20 minutes, but we want him to be right.

“If we were to throw him into a 90 minute game then he would break down because he has missed too much of the pre-season.

He added: “We will build him up so he is right. It may be that he will have to play for the under-21s at some point and get some game time. It will be a gradual thing with Marcus and he is working hard to give himself the best chance.”