"I see no reason why Aston Villa" - EFL pundit makes strong Louie Barry, Stockport County case | OneFootball

George Elek of the Not The Top 20 podcast has called for Aston Villa to keep Louie Barry at Stockport County this season.

EFL pundit George Elek has called for Aston Villa to allow Louie Barry to continue his development at Stockport County despite his exploits in League One and the likelihood of Championship interest in January.

Barry has had an interesting career to date, after he spent 10 years in the West Brom youth set-up from the ages of six to 16 before he left in well-publicised but controversial circumstances to join Barcelona's La Masia academy in 2019. The forward failed to settle in Spain and soon joined the Baggies' local rivals, Aston Villa, who he is still contracted with to this day, yet has only made one senior appearance for the club in over four years.

He signed for Villa in January 2020 for an initial fee of £880,000, and his one appearance for their first team to date came a year later amid COVID-19 issues in the Villa squad, as he impressed against Liverpool with his first senior goal to equalise before an eventual 4-1 loss.

Barry has instead been out on loan at numerous lower-league clubs, and at 21 years old, is now one of the standout players in League One at Stockport County. Barry has experienced varying degrees of success in loan spells at the likes of Ipswich Town, Swindon Town, MK Dons, and Salford City in years gone by, but looks to have found a home in his time at Stockport since he first moved on loan to Edgeley Park last July.

He bagged seven goals in his first 10 League Two outings for the Hatters and picked up both the EFL Young Player of the Month and the League Two Player of the Month award for September 2023 after netting in all five games that month as Dave Challinor's side battled for top spot.

The 21-year-old suffered an unfortunate hamstring injury a month later, so he only returned to action for the last five games of the season as Stockport achieved promotion to the third tier as champions, and he rejoined the club on loan once again in August after signing a contract extension at Villa.

Aston Villa told to keep Louie Barry at Stockport County

Barry has kicked on even further in League One so far. He looks to be on the right track to fulfilling that potential that saw him make the move to one of the world's biggest clubs at just 16. Barry struck a first-half winner in the Hatters' clash with Wrexham at Edgeley Park on Saturday as their promotion push continues to gather momentum, with the goal moving them to within three points of the automatic promotion places.

However, this continued form will have caught the eye of his parent club Aston Villa, who could be interested in cutting Barry's loan short following a goal which is fast becoming his trademark by smashing it home from the edge of the box:

However, George Elek of the Not The Top 20 Podcast has called for Villa to maintain Barry's rapid development in League One, despite the fact that there is likely to be interest from higher levels.

He said: “Louie Barry has shown that he is one of those guys that’s an xG buster when it comes to long shots. He will score more long shots than most people, if given the opportunity to do so.

“I support a club in Oxford in the Championship and he would be top of my shopping list in terms of players we could go after.

“But, given how his development has gone at Stockport County over a year-and-a-half, I see no reason why Aston Villa would be in a hurry to take him out of League One

“He is, quite clearly, too good for the level. It’s not just his exploits in terms of his goalscoring as well. He is someone who, as a ball-carrier, is consistently able to ensure that Stockport are normally the dominant force in games.

“He’s just excellent. He’s such a good player. As is always the case when a player suffers a serious injury as well, it’s great to see what happened to him last season hasn’t impacted his explosive power and his ability to score goals, because he is doing it consistently.”

Louie Barry's development is the most important factor at 21

Beyond his clinical finishing, the attacker is a superb dribbler, capable of creating chances for those around him. He's also crucial to Challinor's aggressive pressing strategy, averaging 4.45 recoveries per game and winning possession in the final third 1.11 times per 90 minutes.

However, while six months more at Edgeley Park likely wouldn't hurt Barry's development, Villa may have visions of the 21-year-old playing higher up the English pyramid. If he returned to Villa Park in the January window, they would have plenty of options for next steps for the attacker.

They could look to send him out on loan again with a host of Championship clubs surely interested in securing his services on a short-term deal while they may soon be tempted to cash in amid reports that Premier League duo Tottenham and Leicester City are both keen.

With the weekend goal taking his league tally to 11 for the season, which is already his best scoring tally in a single professional campaign without even reaching December yet, Barry is also top scorer in League One which has to be a positive for his confidence. He is a man playing with plenty of swagger and quality for Stockport at the moment.