The 21-year-old will leave Oakwell in the summer as a free agent after rejecting a new contract, and the Tykes seem in quite a hurry to off-load him ... because the club will be due compensation.
Barnsley manager Keith Hill: "If Newcastle want him, they should say 'we are willing to make this financial offer for his services'.
"I know full well that teams within the top four of the Championship are 100 per cent trying to recruit Jacob Butterfield.
"One of those teams may have already been promoted, and two of them have a chance of being promoted. I would endorse Newcastle making a decision."
Do you sense a touch of DESPERATION there?