Stoke City must lean on Mark Robins factor to make Aston Villa, Louie Barry approach | OneFootball

The Potters must make signing Barry a priority this month

Stoke City will have intentions to use the January transfer window to improve their attacking depth for the second-half of the season, and the club should lean on the lure of respected boss Mark Robins to seal one of the most in-demand loan deals in the whole of the Championship in the coming weeks.

The Potters have, without doubt, been below par in the final third this season, with their 24 league goals scored so far being the joint-least in the whole of the second-tier alongside Plymouth Argyle and Millwall.

Stoke are not short of a prolific striker, with Tom Cannon's loan exploits being so impressive that he has been linked with a permanent move to other Championship clubs, but they have lacked attacking input from other areas of the team, particularly wide attacking positions, where Million Manhoef is the club's highest scorer with five goals to his name in all competitions this term.

With the Dutchman currently injured and possibly out until March, it is imperative that Stoke look to utilise this month's transfer window to add goals and assists from out wide, and who better to attempt to sign to aid that than in-demand Aston Villa youngster Louie Barry.

Barry was an absolute hit on loan at League One outfit Stockport County in the first half of this season, and his performances did not go unnoticed by Villa, who have recalled him to reportedly send him back out to a Championship side.

The race for the 21-year-old's services is hotly contested, but Stoke should feel that they have as good a chance as any team of landing Barry on loan this month, especially given that their new boss, Robins, has a reputation of improving players with his coaching methods from his time at Coventry, and the Potters would be able to give him the minutes that he wants from now until May.

Louie Barry would be a real coup for Stoke

Stoke are yet to make any moves in the transfer window yet, and it looks as if the club are set to focus on loan moves or free transfers over the coming weeks as they tread a fine line regarding PSR and FFP.

That means that a move for someone like Barry could well be realistic, but the Potters would have to beat off some very strong Championship competition this month for the 21-year-old, after previously being linked with interest in his services by TEAMtalk last month.

Barry registered 16 goals and three assists in 24 games for Stockport in the first half of the season, and his impressive form saw him win the League One Player of the Month award for both August and November, which led parent club Villa to recall him from the Hatters at the start of this month in order to loan him back out to a Championship side.

The race for his signature has begun to heat up with the likes of Sheffield Wednesday and Derby County named as interested parties, while TEAMtalk have previously claimed that the likes of QPR, Sheffield United and Coventry City are also interested in making a move alongside the Potters.

The list of his suitors has only continued to grow, with Hull City and Millwall also both reported to have joined the queue for his services recently, but the sheer volume of interest in the 21-year-old surely means that he could join any club in the second-tier this month, as not one club has yet emerged as front-runners for his signature.

Stoke are pretty thin out wide as it stands due to Manhoef's injury, with both Lewis Koumas and Bae Jun-ho relied on to start nearly every game in recent months due to Andre Vidigal being out-of-favour under both Steven Schumacher and Narcis Pelach so far this term.

Injury-plagued summer signing Sam Gallagher has also featured on the wing for the Potters, as has versatile full-back Lynden Gooch, but the Potters need to add much more output from wide areas to complement the goals of Leicester loanee Cannon, while Manhoef is likely sidelined for up to another two months.

Barry would be the perfect signing to add to their lacking attack, but whether Stoke can get a deal over the line likely hinges on how much interest the player himself has in a move to North Staffordshire.

Mark Robins could play a huge part in luring Barry to the Potteries

Mark Robins' achievements at Coventry have not gone unnoticed by the wider footballing world, and the decision-makers at Aston Villa will no doubt be well aware of the pedigree and impressive track record of improving players that he brings to Stoke from his time with the Sky Blues.

Robins is held in very high regard in Championship terms, after he guided Coventry to the second-tier from League Two, then made them an established club in the league, and took them to within a kick of Premier League football in the 2023 play-off final, as well as to an FA Cup semi-final last season.

During that time, he was able to work with the Sky Blues' board to identify low risk, high reward players that he felt would improve their chances of success, with players such as Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer brought in for low transfer fees and duly sold on for big money. The former is now one of the hottest properties in world football.

Players such as that aforementioned duo, Callum O'Hare, Leo Ostigard, Ben Sheaf, Conor Chaplin, Callum Doyle, and even Ephron Mason-Clark, who has recently been named the Championship Player of the Month for December, can count themselves as commodities that were brought to the CBS Arena by Robins, and have gone on to improve tenfold as players from relatively humble beginnings.

Stoke themselves also have a recent good working relationship with Aston Villa, after they took exciting winger Jaden Philogene on a similar January loan deal back in 2022, and he impressed at the bet365 Stadium under Alex Neil before two more Championship loan spells at Cardiff City and Hull City.

Philogene is now set to earn the Villans a sizeable chunk of money in a reported £20m transfer to Ipswich Town, which the Potters can count themselves as small contributors to, and Villa would surely take his success in the Potteries into account when looking for a suitable club to loan quick winger Barry to in a crucial stage of his development over the next few months.

With everything taken into account, Stoke still would regard landing Barry as a massive coup for their Championship future, but they must push to make a deal in the coming weeks if they want to give themselves the best chance of moving up the table and away from the threat of relegation this season.