Aston Villa are looking to bring in money before a profitability and sustainability deadline
Louie Barry (right)
Louie Barry (right) could move back to Hull City.(Image: PA)
Aston Villa are in talks with Hull City about a permanent transfer for Louie Barry that could be got over the line this weekend.
The 22-year-old forward spent the second half of last season on a £1 million loan at the MKM Stadium but made only four appearances after suffering a knee cartilage injury in February. He had been in demand in the Championship after scoring 15 times in 23 games on loan at Stockport County in League One in the first half of term.
Now Hull are pushing to take him back, having established a good business relationship with Villa that saw two deals involving youth graduate Jaden Philogene. Philogene left for Hull in 2023 before being brought back to be sold on at a profit last summer.
It is claimed that a Barry deal would be initially worth under £4m but that would go on Villa's books as pure profit, an important distinction as they try to raise cash ahead of the end-of-month profitability and sustainability annual football accounting deadline.
Baz Cooper, Hull reporter for HullLive, said: "I don't think the fee would be huge. I think it would be less than Hull paid for Abu Kamara, which was £4m. It's still significant for Hull City, if it was done, and I have no doubt that Villa would have their own clauses. We know about the buy-back they put in for Jaden. I'm not sure they would do the same here. We'll have to wait and see.
"It's not a done deal yet, they have got other options, but Villa need to free up and it would be classed as pure profit for them as well. There are one or two players that Villa are trying to get rid of before June 30 and Barry is one of those.
"It would be a financial outlay for City but he would be their player and, at 22, he still has a fairly high ceiling, even if he is untested at this level."
Hull are not expected to be put off by Barry's lack of game time last season.
Championship pundit David Prutton said on the 1904 Club podcast: "I'm never one to write off a player, especially a younger player, who has shown real glimpses of ability. He's someone I've heard very good reports about with regard to his approach to his profession.
"Any form of transfer is a punt, is a gamble, and you've got to tick so many boxes. First of all, is the player willing to come and seemingly (that's so) from what he's seen before - it might be slightly different now there's a different management structure in place and maybe a few different teammates to think about.
"Given his experience at big football clubs, I'd like to think that would fit well into what City want to get from him to be a reliable, creative member of the side.
"From a money point of view, going back to how deep (owner) Acun (Ilicali)'s pockets are, it needs to be costed properly.
"We saw him be so good for Stockport and the question is whether he can transfer that to a higher division, which is the next real task for Louis Barry, then he would be undoubtedly be an asset for City. Keep him fit, get him game time, all of it would be mutually beneficial."
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