Aston Villa has lured 16-year-old striker Louie Barry from Barcelona, by signing him. This come just six months after he joined the Spanish giants.
Since his departure from West Brom to join Barca in July, Barry has been turning down lucrative offers from a host of top European clubs. This includes a £2m deal with Paris Saint-Germain in which the youngster believe wasn’t good for him at the time.
Villa’s academy manager Mark Harrison told VillaTV: “It (Louie’s signing) sends a powerful message about the ambition of this football club.”
“We’re delighted, Louie is a local person and his family are all Villa fans, as is Louie. He is still a very young man but as he’s developed, he’s always been one player that you always recognise as having outstanding attributes. He’s got a fantastic mentality, he’s desperate to do well for this football club.”
“He’s really driven, he’s got great family support, but in terms of what he can achieve, we firmly believe that he can be an outstanding number nine for this football club” Harrison added.
Birmingham born Barry joined the Spanish champions from West Bromwich Albion in July 2019.
The highly rated 16-year-old was reported to be unsettled by changes to Barcelona’s coaching set-up and jumped at the chance to join Villa, the club he supported as a child.
When Barry signed for Barcelona, the club described him as “one of the best young players in English football” but he made just 10 appearances for their youth teams, scoring two goals.
