Patrick Kelly is a 21-year-old Northern Irish midfielder at Barnsley FC in EFL League One who recently made his senior debut for his national side. Kelly began his career at Coleraine in Northern Ireland before moving to West Ham in 2022, where he represented their U18 and U21 sides, before going on loan to Doncaster Rovers in EFL League Two for the 24/25 season.
Kelly has a lean build and stands around 6’ tall. Despite recently playing as an attacking midfielder in Barnsley’s 4-2-3-1 formation, his playstyle is most similar to a classic box-to-box midfielder. He shows strong pace, stamina, and good levels of acceleration, capable of driving from deep both with and without the ball until the later stages of the halves, showing intent both to attack and recover into space. Despite his taller frame, he currently lacks the ability to make the most of his size and will want to improve his upper body strength. Several times, he committed and was aggressive in going shoulder-to-shoulder with a midfielder, but came off second best. Similarly, he was often shunted, causing a poorer technical action/ball loss when in possession himself.
Kelly is an exceptional runner, carries the ball well, and can quickly shift the ball from one foot to another in tight spaces around a tackle, often awaiting pressure before exploiting the space, getting his body across the man as he cuts inside. But, he can lack in anticipation and technique to fend off tackles that start out of view from behind/the sides. In possession, he looks to link with short one- and two-touch ground passes, again showing strong timing, waiting to release the pass when pressure arrives to create more space for the receiver or himself to then move into. When further forward, he shows vision to play well-weighted, shorter through balls into wider runners, and is selfless in looking to play others in rather than take a shot on himself. Possessing a short passing range, he is currently lacking in his longer and aerial passing, playing more chipped/flighted horizontal switches over medium distance that can be slow to fall to the receiver and give time for the opposition to get across, lacking in driven technique.
Off the ball, Kelly scans well and is instinctive, reacting quickly to chances to attack space ahead, often moving into the left channel, dragging his marker to create space for wider attackers to cut inside. He is more reactive defensively, can be slightly behind his marker, but shows willingness to track his man and recover quickly. Kelly shows strong timing of his runs and is clever in looking to run off the shadow of his marker, making him difficult to track. Kelly also has a threat inside the box with his movement, often attacking space the striker has left, and has scored from attacking the near post with a one-touch finish when awaiting a cross, and has the potential to attack rebounds. Kelly also shows some ability to make small adjustments behind the opposition midfield to create passing lanes, although he currently has more impact with his more direct runs, and can be caught square on when dropping deep, inviting tackles from behind, but often tries to shift off one touch to turn and face play.
Out of possession, Kelly is an aggressive presser, using physical strengths to push high, tightly mark the opposition’s deepest midfielder during their build-up, and is brave and committed in ground duels, especially. In a lower block, he scans well and adjusts to screen passes and shows some reading to make interceptions that can start transition or ball carry chances for himself. Although as he approaches the ball, he scans less and loses his ability to screen, is occasionally caught out for jumping too early, and goes at the ball when in 1v1 situations, getting too close and is comfortably shifted past.
Overall, Kelly playing as an attacking midfielder has reduced his defensive responsibilities and aided his adaptation to life in the EFL League One. Despite this, I see Kelly becoming a box-to-box midfielder, using strong ball carrying and the ability to attack space from a slightly deeper position. As he matures and becomes stronger physically, he will carry even more threat with his runs both with and without the ball, and has the potential to play for a promotion-chasing Championship to a bottom-half Premier League side.
Target Scouting 