Premier League Aston Villa could pay La Liga champions Barcelona £3m for former West Brom starlet Louie Barry.
Aston Villa newbie Louie Barry has admitted to the Birmingham Mail that he hopes to be part of Dean Smith’s first-team plans by May, even if he is not due to turn 17 until May.
In one of the oddest stories of the transfer window, a player who had turned heads with his prolific goalscoring at West Bromwich Albion returned to the Midlands to join The Baggies’ bitter rivals, via a short and disappointing spell in Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy.
Barry, an England U16 international, is arguably the most exciting striker of his age anywhere in the country and Aston Villa have big hopes for the boyhood claret and blue fanatic, having paid Barca a fee which could rise to a staggering £3 million.
And while the fresh-faced teen is yet to make his first-team debut for anyone yet, he is hoping to change that soon.
“I played for the under 23s against Cardiff and scored the winner,” said Barry, who has been reunited with his former West Brom coach Mark Harrison at Bodymoor Heath.
“I am fighting for the first team. What I want to do first at Villa is play really well and go up the ranks. My main ambition is to be in the first team by the end of the season.
“I was born in Aston. I have supported Villa all my life.”
In Dean Smith, Barry could hardly be working under a better manager if he wants to fulfil his vast potential in the Second City.
Countless young talents have shone under the Villa boss, from Ollie Watkins to Rico Henry, while the likes of Jack Grealish are playing the best footballer of their career under a likeable tactician.
And with Aston Villa hardly overloaded with top level strikers, who is to say Smith won’t turn to Barry in search for a crucial goal?
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