Stockport County: Man United player namedropped as part of perfect January window scenario | OneFootball

FLW's Stockport fan pundit, James, weighs in on the perfect January transfer window for his side.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

The news that all Stockport County supporters have been dreading was finally announced over the weekend, as Aston Villa confirmed that they'd be recalling Louie Barry in January.

The attacker has been on fire in League One this season, which has perked the interest of plenty of Championship clubs.

After proving to be a star in the third tier of English football, Villa are keen to assess his ability at a higher level, before deciding on his long-term future in the Midlands. However, this has caused devastation for promotion-chasing Stockport, as they will now have a huge void to fill in January.

Most fans were wishing that they could just keep the band together, and maybe add a few new faces to compliment what they've already got. In light of recent news, these hopes have been largely dashed.

Stockport County urged to keep hold of star players in January as well as land Man United talent

So what would a perfect January look like? Well, we asked FLW's Stockport fan pundit, James Cropper, to give us his assessment of the perfect window.

James told Football League World: "A perfect January transfer window would just be keeping the same team that we have now.

"Some new additions would be nice, some depth.

"There's a player that has been rumoured to be coming to this [League One] level and that has been linked with County. Ethan Wheatley, the striker, if we can bring him in on loan, it could work out.

"A loan move is always a very low-risk move, so if it doesn't work out, it doesn't matter, he just goes back to Manchester United. He'd be a nice addition.

"To be honest, we are overachieving right now. We've spent a lot of money, but we're overachieving with the squad that we have.

"Right now, just keeping our team together and keeping our manager would calm things down."

Dave Challinor now tasked with the impossible task of replacing Louie Barry

Unfortunately, contrary to James' wishes, Dave Challinor will be unable to keep his whole squad together, as confirmed recently by both County and Aston Villa due to the fact that Louie Barry is being recalled in January.

This was always the risk of being so reliant on Barry when it comes to attacking output.

However, this has likely been in the back of the Stockport manager's mind for a long time now, as the 21-year-old has continued to light up League One. He'd have had plenty of time to carefully consider the next steps, which will be finding an adequate replacement.

Sadly, it will be an almost impossible task to find such a reliable output of goals, especially from a loanee. Whilst Wheatley is a massive unknown, it'll take time for him to find his feet in senior football, which will of course affect his attacking output. He could be a good option but is unlikely to fill the void left by Barry's departure.

All of this will have Stockport fans scratching their heads as to who Challinor has lined up in January