Celtic 'make enquiry' for highly-rated English forward who signed for Barcelona aged 16

Prolific loan spell sparks interest in EPL youngster

Celtic have been linked with a move for highly-rated Aston Villa forward Louie Barry in the January transfer window.

The 21-year-old former Barcelona youth has been recalled from his loan at Stockport County, where he scored 16 goals in 24 appearances across an impressive first half of the season in EFL League One.

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A number of EFL Championship clubs are reported to be interested in acquiring the Villa youngster for the second half of the campaign with Leeds, Sunderland, Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Derby, Middlesbrough, Millwall and Coventry all listed as suitors for the ex-England youth international.

According to Sky Sports, Celtic have also made an enquiry with Villa set to assess the player in first-team training over the next few weeks before making a decision on his future.

Celtic are reportedly interested in Aston Villa forward Louie Barry, pictured in action during his loan spell at Stockport County. (Photo by Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images)Celtic are reportedly interested in Aston Villa forward Louie Barry, pictured in action during his loan spell at Stockport County. (Photo by Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images)
Celtic are reportedly interested in Aston Villa forward Louie Barry, pictured in action during his loan spell at Stockport County. (Photo by Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images) | Getty Images

Barry was hailed as one of England’s brightest talents when left West Brom to sign for Barcelona in 2019 just one month after his 16th birthday. He was also attracting interest from Paris Saint-Germain with reports at the time claiming he had already undergone a medical with the French side before being convinced to move to Spain.

He spent six months with the Catalan club's renowned La Masia academy before returning to England following the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic, signing for Villa for an initial fee of €700,000 which could rise to €3million based on first team appearances.

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He made his Villa debut aged 17, scoring the equaliser in a 4-1 defeat to Liverpool in the FA Cup in January 2021, in what remains his only first-team appearance to date.

Since then Barry has spent time on loan at Ipswich Town, Swindon Town, MK Dons and Salford City. He spent last season on loan at Stockport, scoring nine times in 23 games to help them win promotion from League One, before rejoining the club on loan at the start of the current season.

He has now been recalled by his parent club with Villa boss Unai Emery keen to run the rule over the youngster himself before deciding on his next move with Celtic and other clubs believed to be pursuing a permanent transfer.

"(Barry) trained with us and we are going to make a plan with him, an overall plan," Emery said last week. "I think he is a very good player who is progressing well. He has been on loan doing fantastic. Now we can have a new plan with him.

"He improved because he was scoring a lot of goals on loan. With us he only trained today and yesterday. Of course we are going to try and get a good plan for the club with him."

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