Louie Barry could leave Aston Villa this summer
Louie Barry could leave Aston Villa this summer... but will it be to join Blues?
Birmingham City are back in the Championship and searching for players who can take them to the next level.
Blues hope to compete for a place in the Premier League in 2025/26 under manager Chris Davies and plans have been drawn up to attack the summer transfer window.
Wide forwards are on their wish-list and there were few better in League One last season than Louie Barry. The Aston Villa youngster scored 15 goals in 23 games on loan at Stockport County before being recalled and shipped to Hull City in January.
Barry's time in Hull was blighted by injury and limited to just four matches, but he is widely expected to start next season in the Championship. A bunch of teams will no doubt be keen to sign him and Blues have been thrown into the mix.
Could Barry become the latest player to cross the Second City? Writers from BirminghamLive's football desk have had their say...
Alex Dicken
It is a deal that makes sense in terms of location for Sutton Coldfield-based Barry and it’s a path that has been reasonably well trodden in recent years.
Liam Ridgewell, Craig Gardner, Curtis Davies and Gary Gardner switched Second City clubs successfully and Scott Hogan was far from a disaster.
Members of the Blues hierarchy were impressed by Barry whilst he was on loan at Stockport County last season and he clearly has potential. There are just a couple of sizeable sticking points…
It is debatable as to how favourable a deal with Aston Villa would be for Blues. He hasn’t yet proven himself in the Championship and Blues are aiming to be in the promotion picture. That’s not to say Barry isn’t capable of acting up to the level.
A loan deal makes no sense for Blues. Why would they develop a player who belongs to Villa?
And a permanent deal would hinge not only on the price, but on whether Barry would actually be interested in the move. He is a Villa fan after all, from a Villa-supporting family. There might be other Championship clubs that appeal more.
I think Barry has shown enough promise to suggest he could be a good signing, but he is currently only a 21-year-old who has played four games in the Championship. He is a project, not a player guaranteed to improve Blues’ starting line-up, so he couldn’t come at a premium.
Plus, his head and heart would have to be in it. I doubt whether it would all marry up to make it a transfer worth Blues' while.
Louie Barry scored 15 goals in just 23 League One matches for Stockport last season (Image: Stockport County)
Joe Chapman
It isn't as though the path from Villa Park to St Andrew's, from B6 to B9, hasn't been trodden before. Villa have sold Craig Gardner, Curtis Davies and Liam Ridgewell to Blues all in the last 15 years or so and the former and latter were in the League Cup-winning squad.
Players can cross the city divide and have success, there are case studies which outline as such. The pertinent word here, however, is sold - not loaned.
Blues have signed all manner of players on loan from clubs in the last 15 years since dropping down into the Championship from the Premier League, including from West Bromwich Albion and Wolverhampton Wanderers, but there would understandably be a line with Villa.
Both clubs are quite obviously operating at differing levels at this time but both are on upward trajectories with grand plans to continue competing on the pitch and off of it in the years to come because of excellent ownership and generous investment.
I'm not convinced that one should be developing any player for the long-term benefit of the other. That said, Barry is clearly highly talented and, were you to set aside his personal Villa links, you could see him bringing something to this Blues squad which has fostered a newfound winning culture. The only way a deal could work, in my opinion, is on a permanent basis.
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Steve Wollaston
The one thing I have never really understood about West Midlands football is why the teams on the patch don't look after each other more. It's actually something that has really grated on me over the years, particularly when it comes to the loan market.
The recent suggestion that Aston Villa and Birmingham City could link up for a loan deal for Louie Barry could be the best thing to happen to football in the region in years. Of course, realistically you have to ask would Villa actually loan Barry to Blues? Would the youngster even fancy a stint at St Andrew's?
I've worked on West Midlands football reporting for the best part of 25 years now, and rarely have I seen a common sense approach to clubs helping each other develop.
For me, Aston Villa and Wolves could have been using the likes of Walsall to blood their youngsters, giving them much needed real match experience.
That in turn would have seen clubs like the Saddlers surely have a real opportunity to gradually grow their own stature as a club.
Too often the obsession is what loan clubs will play, or misguided notions that clubs are too close, or fans might not like it.
Who knows the real reasons these deals haven't happened, but the fact is that they should have happened.
Even when Blues and Albion have been in the Championship - it would have made loads of sense for some of the top talents from the Villa academy, to be locally based and helping the footballing landscape in the centre of the country.
I look at players like Barry and Jaden Philogene, and you have to wonder why they are sent up North rather than to clubs on their doorstep.
I'd love to see more of the youngsters from our top tier of Midlands teams heading to Walsall, Tamworth and Solihull Moors.
It would provide a positive lifeline for these clubs and give them a very realistic opportunity to push forward with a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Rather than patronising these teams as in need of handouts, I think what they offer their neighbours in return, is just as valuable.
I would love to see the Barry deal go through, it would be a huge step forward for how our local teams should be behaving.
A season of progressive Championship football for Barry would be that final piece of his education before Villa would need to make a big decision.
Who knows, he may even see a future at St Andrew's!
Richard Cusack
If it were any other two clubs, the transfer would make sense.
Louie Barry signing for a progressive Championship club brimming with momentum would be a really good move for the 21-year-old.
Having seen his loan spell with Hull City curtailed so early because of injury, Barry is looking to finally make his mark in the Championship.
But a move to Birmingham City? Surely not for the Aston Villa-supporting Sutton Coldfield native.
Regardless of what his stance on the transfer would be, it's really hard to see Blues wanting to loan a Villa player without there being some form of obligation to buy him at the end of it.
Otherwise, it's Blues developing a player for their biggest rivals with no real long-term benefit for them.
I just can't see this one happening.
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