Stockport County have confirmed this evening that they will be heading into the second half of the season without their star man with the individual’s parent club confirming their option to recall him.
After much speculation, the Hatters forward and top scorer Louie Barry is set to be recalled by his parent club Aston Villa after an impressive second loan spell with the League One side. The Premier League club have recalled Barry for a period of assessment with the first team squad with his final game for Stockport coming against Villa’s rivals Birmingham City on New Year’s Day.
Who is Louie Barry?
Louie Barry started his youth career at West Bromwich Albion having joined at the age of six. After rapidly progressing through the youth set up in his ten year spell, the youngster signed for Spanish giants Barcelona.
He made a number of appearances for the under 19 side but his spell at the Catalonian giants lasted six months before a move back to England and to Aston Villa. The 21 year old played a number of games for the youth sides at Villa Park with his only first team appearance coming against Liverpool in the FA Cup, when he scored in their 4-1 defeat.
Numerous loan spells followed for Barry at Ipswich Town, Swindon Town, Milton Keynes Dons and Salford City followed before a loan to Stockport County at the start of last season allowed the youngster to showcase his talent. Despite a hamstring injury ruling him out for six months, the Villa loanie had 13 goal contributions in 20 games to help Stockport to promotion into League One.
Another loan spell to the Manchester club followed for the current season and having arguably been the player of the season in League One so far, Villa are set torecall him and judge whether he could be added to their squad for the rest of their Premier League and Champions League campaigns.
What impact will Barry’s recall have on Stockport County?
Louie Barry has had an incredible first half of the season and his departure from Stockport’s squad will leave a huge attacking hole that will need to be filled. His ability in attacking areas ishighlighted by his manager Dave Challinor:
“He can go both ways and it causes defenders real problems. You might know he’s going to do it but stopping him is another matter”.
So far this season, Barry has provided a consistent threat to opposition defences having scored 14 goals in the 21 appearances made. The forward has an average of 3.62 shots per 90 minutes with a 71% shot accuracy and consistently scores difficult chances having outscored his expected goals (xG) figure by 5.39.
His ability to link up play with his fellow attackers is shown in his 80.7% passing accuracy and 1.21 chances created per 90 minutes on average. Barry provides Stockport with the ability of beating defenders in 1 v 1 situations having completed on average 2.8 successful dribbles and 5.22 duels per 90 minutes.
The League One side have a plethora of attacking options at their disposal after Barry has departed with the likes of Jayden Fevier, Jack Diamond, Kyle Whooton and Isaac Olaofe all within the squad. However, the players left behind have not shown the ability to pluck a goal out of nothing as Barry has many times this season which may lead to County’s game being much closer affairs in the second half of the season.
What next for Louie Barry?
Having impressed so much during the last 18 months at Stockport, it was no surprise when Villa announced they would be recalling their young forward. The question for Barry will be what is next for the rest of the season.
Having made a solitary appearance for Villa it would take a lot for Barry to break into the Villa first team squad for the Premier League and Champions League. The 21 year old is yet to play a competitive game in the Championship within his career and at such a young age it is likely that a move to the second tier will be on the cards this January.
With the transfer window opening next week, a loan move away from Villa Park for the remainder of the season is most likely for Barry with reports suggesting thatSheffield Wednesday, Middlesborough and Leeds United have been interested in signing the 21 year old.
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