Aston Villa striker Louie Barry suffered a serious knee injury while on loan at Hull City and hasn't played in the last month
Comments
Sport
Hull City's Louie Barry (right)
Hull City's Louie Barry (right)(Image: PA)
Aston Villa centre forward Louie Barry could yet return to action with loan club Hull City before the end of the season, the Tigers boss Ruben Selles has indicated. Barry, 21, suffered a knee injury in last month's win at Sunderland and needed helping off the pitch, clearly in some discomfort.
Barry was making his only fourth appearance in a Hull shirt, having switched midway through the season from League One promotion chasers Stockport County, who are well placed thanks in no small part to Barry's 15 league goals in the first half of the campaign.
Villa decided that a crack at Championship football, a new experience entirely to Barry, would serve the forward well after his successful spells with Stockport, which had followed periods with MK Dons, Ipswich, Salford and Swindon.
How Aston Villa could be one of 11 Premier League teams in European competition next season
Premier League supercomputer predicts every team's finishing position and points total
That plan might've gone out of the window when he left the Stadium Of Light with the remainder of his season clearly in doubt, and manager Selles confirmed post-match that he'd been sent back to Villa to begin a period of rehabilitation.
Barry was, though, in attendance at The Hawthorns on Saturday as the Tigers claimed a valuable point, in their battle against Championship relegation, against play-off hopefuls West Bromwich Albion. Taking an opportunity to see his teammates in action in the West Midlands and at the home of his former club, Barry witnessed a 1-1 draw.
"He's going well," Selles told the Hull Daily Mail post match about the prospects of Barry returning to action this term. "He's going according to schedule, so let's see if there are any setbacks to that, and he can be back with us before the end of the season.
"We've had conversations (about when he might be back), but I'll be honest with you, in my mind, I'm just preparing that we don't have him until the end of the season, so if he's coming back, it will be great, so that's how it works and then I will not be disappointed if it doesn't happen.
"As I understood it, there's a possibility for him to come back to us after the international break around the end of the month and, from that we will see how much he can be able to compete, but it's important that there is no set back in the process that he has initiated with Aston Villa."
How does Barry's long term future at Villa look? Tell us HERE