Louie Mark Barry (born 21 June 2003) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a striker and winger for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

, on loan from

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. Having spent a decade in the West Bromwich Albion Academy he moved to

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in 2019, becoming the first English player to join and play for the

La Masia La Masia de Can Planes, usually shortened to La Masia (; en, "The Farmhouse"), is a term used for FC Barcelona's youth academy. The academy includes more than 300 young players. It has been an instrumental factor in Barcelona's European success ...

academy. He subsequently joined the

Aston Villa Academy The Aston Villa Under-21s, formerly known as Aston Villa Reserves and Aston Villa Under-23s, are the most senior youth development team of Aston Villa and compete in Premier League 2 (Division 2) of the Professional Development League, the Pr ...

in January 2020. Barry has represented both England and the Republic of Ireland at youth international level.

Early and personal life

Barry was born in

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, known locally as Sutton ( ), is a town and civil parish in the City of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south ...

, and has dual British and Irish citizenship. He attended

Bishop Walsh Catholic School Bishop Walsh Catholic School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham in the West Midlands of England. The school is part of the St. John Paul II Multi-Academy Company. Bu ...

. In February 2020, he said that he had been an

fan his entire life. Barry is of no relation to the former

player

Gareth Barry Gareth Barry (born 23 February 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He made 653 Premier League appearances for Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton and West Bromwich Albion, the highest number of ap ...

Club career

Early career

Barry played for local Sutton Coldfield side, Sutton United as an under-8 where he played with future teammate

Tim Iroegbunam Timothy Emeka Iroegbunam (born 30 June 2003) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Aston Villa. He is a product of the West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa academies. Career Youth career Iroegbunam played youth football i ...

. Barry joined the

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

academy at the age of six and by 2018, had progressed to the U21 squad.

Barcelona

After spending ten years with

, Barry signed a three-year contract with Spanish club

in July 2019. He had previously been close to signing for French club

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. He became the first English player to join

. In September 2019 it was announced that Albion were going to report Barcelona to

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

over the transfer, claiming that they had not received the compensation they were due. Barcelona contested this, however, stating that they did not believe that his scholarship for Albion had any international standing, and that they would wait for the verdict from FIFA. He subsequently had to wait three months for his international registration to be confirmed which meant he missed the first seven matches of the Barcelona under-19 season. A judge ultimately ruled in favour of Barcelona and in November 2021 stated that Albion were due no further compensation. Barry made his debut for Barcelona's under-19 side in October 2019, scoring on his first start, in a 6–0 victory against

Ebro , name_etymology = , image = Zaragoza shel.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = The Ebro River in Zaragoza , map = SpainEbroBasin.png , map_size = , map_caption = The Ebro ...

. He made ten competitive under-19 appearances in the league and

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

for Barcelona in the 2019–20 season, scoring twice. His side were declared U19 league champions in May 2020, a few months after Barry left the club, after the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

curtailed the youth season.

Aston Villa

In January 2020 he held talks with

, signing for them later that month for a fee of £880,000, which could rise to £3.5m with add-ons. Barry signed a three-year contract, as this is the maximum allowed for a player of his age – with an agreement of an automatic further three years at the end of that. He made his debut for the club's U23 team on 23 January, shortly before he was officially unveiled by the Midlands club. He came on to score the equaliser in a 2–1 win over Cardiff City. In June he spent time training with the Aston Villa first team, then made a first appearance in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

with the club's under-21 side four months later. On 8 January 2021, after ten of Villa's first-team players tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Barry was selected to make his debut in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

third round against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Barry scored to equalise the game at 1–1, before Liverpool went on to win 4–1. Barry's performance prompted the Liverpool manager,

Jürgen Klopp Jürgen Norbert Klopp (; born 16 June 1967) is a German professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Liverpool. He is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the world. Klopp spent most of his playing c ...

, to refer to the youngster as "Little

Jamie Vardy Jamie Richard Vardy (''né'' Gill; born 11 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Leicester City. Regarded as one of the best strikers in the world, Vardy is known for his prolific goalscoring aided ...

" The goal was voted 'Goal of the Round' by

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

readers. On 24 May, Barry was part of the Aston Villa U18 squad that won the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

, beating Liverpool U18s 2–1 in the final. On 7 July, Villa announced that they had exercised an option in Barry's contract to automatically extend it until 2024.

Ipswich Town loan

On 6 August 2021, Barry signed for

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

on a season-long loan. He made his debut on 10 August, in a 1–0

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

defeat to Newport County. He made his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debut four days later in a 2–1 defeat at

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

. After finding game time limited at Ipswich, Barry returned to Villa in January, having made 6 appearances during his loan.

Swindon Town loan

On 28 January 2022, Barry signed for

side

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

on loan for the remainder of the season. He made his debut on 1 February, as a second half substitute in a 1–1 draw against

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

. On 19 February, he scored his first senior league goal, in a 3–0 away victory over

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

Milton Keynes Dons loan

On 12 July 2022, Barry joined League One club

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

until the end of the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season. He made his debut on 30 July 2022 as a 61st-minute substitute in a 1–0 defeat away to

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...

Salford City loan

On 30 January 2023, Barry had his Milton Keynes Dons loan terminated, to facilitate a loan move to Salford City until the end of the season.

Stockport County loan

On 28 July 2023, Barry signed a contract extension with Aston Villa, and on the same day joined League Two club

on a season-long loan.

International career

Barry has represented England at under-15, under-16 and under-17 youth levels. He is also eligible to represent the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, and has represented them at under-15 and under-16 level in 2018 before returning to play for England youth sides. In 2018 Barry scored ten goals in five games for the England under-15 side at a tournament in Italy. In 2019 Barry was part of the England under-17 side that were victorious in the ''Syrenka Cup'', he started the final and assisted

Jamal Musiala Jamal Musiala (born 26 February 2003) is a German professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. Nicknamed "Bambi", Musiala is known for his world-class dribbling a ...

for one of England's goals against hosts Poland, a 2–2 draw which England subsequently won on penalties. By February 2020 he had scored 21 goals in 20 games for England's youth teams. On 29 March 2021, Barry made his debut for England U18s during a 2–0 win away to Wales at the Leckwith Stadium.

Career statistics

Honours

Barcelona U19 * División de Honor Juvenil: 2019–20 Aston Villa U18 *

: 2020–21 England U16 *Tournoi Val-de-Marne: 2018 England U17 *Syrenka Cup: 2019 Individual *Tournoi Val-de-Marne – Top Goalscorer: 2018 *

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

– Player of the Month: January 2021

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Louie 2003 births Living people Footballers from Sutton Coldfield English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football wingers West Bromwich Albion F.C. players FC Barcelona players Aston Villa F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Salford City F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain English expatriate sportspeople in Spain English people of Irish descent English Football League players Stockport County F.C. players