Sheffield Wednesday are interested in signing Aston Villa attacker Louie Barry.
Jurgen Klopp once compared Sheffield Wednesday transfer target Louie Barry with Jamie Vardy after the Aston Villa attacker scored against his Liverpool side back in January 2021.
Barry was on the scoresheet against the Merseyside outfit in January 2021, scoring in an FA Cup third round clash between the two clubs at Villa Park. Villa had no choice but to field a young and inexperienced team against Klopp’s troops after a Covid-19 outbreak had swept through their first-team squad.
After falling behind to a Sadio Mané effort after just four minutes, Villa equalised four minutes before half-time when Barry, making his Villa debut, got in behind the Liverpool defence and slotted a composed finish past goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher.
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Unfortunately for Barry, who is understood to be wanted on a permanent deal by Wednesday, and his young Villa teammates, they were put to the sword in the second half, conceding three goals in the space of just five minutes, meaning they exited the competition at the first hurdle. As a side note, new Wednesday recruit Sil Swinkels made his Villa debut the same evening.
Nevertheless, Klopp, who is set to become the new Germany head coach following their disastrous World Cup campaign, was impressed by Villa’s youngsters and Barry in particular, dubbing him the ‘little Jamie Vardy’.
The former Liverpool boss told talkSPORT: “The boys did really well. Little Jamie Vardy was a proper threat.”
Barry, who joined Villa from Barcelona in January 2020, has not featured for Villa’s first-team since scoring against Liverpool five-and-a-half years ago, instead being sent out on loan on nine occasions. Three of those nine loans saw him move to Stockport County, where he has scored 29 goals in 56 appearances.
Louie Barry marked his Aston Villa debut with a goal.placeholder image
Louie Barry marked his Aston Villa debut with a goal. | POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Barry spent the second half of the 2024/25 season and the first half of the 2025/26 campaign in the Championship with Hull City and Sheffield United respectively, but was limited to just 13 appearances. His time at Hull was impacted by a knee injury.
Although his stints at the MKM Stadium and Bramall Lane did not go according to plan, Barry has proven himself in League One with Stockport, where, of course, he worked with now-Wednesday sporting director Simon Wilson. He has scored 20 goals and registered six assists in League One in his career.
He spent the second half of last season on loan at Stockport, scoring four goals in ten appearances.
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