Callum Stead has completed a move from Barnet to Cambridge United, ending a three-year spell in which he scored 50 goals in 124 appearances and became one of the most important players in the club’s recent rise.

For Barnet supporters, the departure lands hard because Stead was more than a useful forward. The 26-year-old arrived from Brackley Town in the summer of 2023, came off the bench in the second game of the 2023/24 National League campaign against Bromley and scored his first Barnet goal a month later in a 2-1 win over Kidderminster Harriers. He went on to score 14 league goals in that first season, including braces against Oxford City, York City, Rochdale and Dorking.

His output only grew from there. Stead scored 18 times in Barnet’s National League title-winning season and finished as the club’s top scorer, then added another milestone by scoring his first EFL goal in a 2-0 home win over Accrington Stanley. Last season, he reached 12 league goals and ended by scoring five in Barnet’s final home game against Gillingham, a run that showed how quickly he had adapted to the step up after promotion.

That is why Barnet’s description of the exit as heartbreaking carries weight. Manager Dean Brennan said Stead “epitomizes everything we’ve been about in the last five years,” called the move a step up to the next level and said he had served the club 36 fantastic months. Brennan also pointed to his place in the 100 club, his title-clinching goals and his status as last season’s top scorer, all of which made him one of the faces of Barnet’s climb.

Cambridge have not said what, if anything, they paid for him, but they are adding a forward who has already delivered at both National League and League Two level. Barnet, meanwhile, lose a player who made his debut as a substitute and left as a title winner, a players’ player of the season and a central part of their recent history. The next question is how quickly Cambridge fold him into their squad, with no debut date confirmed yet.