‘Buzzing’ serial Aston Villa loanee Louie Barry is facing the biggest season of his career

In the long and notorious history of Aston Villa losing in the FA Cup Third Round, one defeat is not like the others.

Villa were knocked out by Liverpool in January 2021 but it was no ordinary Villa. With the first team squad and several under-23s ruled out because of a COVID-19 outbreak at Bodymoor Heath, a makeshift team of under-18s and under-23s took on Premier League leaders Liverpool at an empty Villa Park.

Liverpool took a predictable early lead but Louie Barry, the 17-year-old former Barcelona and West Bromwich Albion youth making his senior debut along with all his teammates, scored a fabulous solo goal on the break to give the young Villans a moment to celebrate with gusto.

The goal showed why Barry was rated so highly at the club. He had the pace, the incision, the strength to get away from one of the top defences in the country, and the composure and ability to finish at the end of it.

He hasn’t played a competitive first team game since.

Barry has been loaned out a total of eight times. When he plays for Sheffield United in the Championship they will become the seventh different club he’s represented temporarily.

That’s a long list of clubs for a 22-year-old but Barry has time on his side and his Villa days will soon be over. Having originally planned to sell him outright to his previous club, Hull City, Villa were scuppered by transfer restrictions imposed on the Tigers.

But this isn’t just an eighth loan for Barry. It’s probably his last, and it promises a first full season in the Championship under Rubén Sellés, the former Hull manager he admires after their brief time together last season.

Some of Barry’s loans away from Villa have been more impressive than others but a 2024/25 stint with Stockport County proved that he’s too sharp for League One. Now, with three years left on his contract but Villa ready to set him free for a fee, he has the chance to show he can flourish in the second tier.

“The first time I had conversations about it, I just couldn’t wait to come here. The season is three weeks away, and I know we have a couple of friendlies before, but I am just buzzing to get started,” Barry told the Blades media team.

“I’ve been at Villa, playing games, training and working hard just for whatever will come next. As I say, when a club like this comes calling, you can’t turn it down and I can’t wait to get into it.”

2025/26 will set Barry’s course for the career ahead. Sheffield United are eyeing promotion with Sellés at the helm. If Barry could play a part in that, he might find himself in the Premier League after all. Maybe Villa would even take another look.

If not, a successful season in front of goal would establish him as a Championship player worth a few bob and his delayed permanent move away would be to a stable second-tier outfit where he’ll reach his mid-twenties with a platform on which to show, finally, the full extent of what he can do.

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