It is four years since West Brom could not keep hold of arguably the hottest property to come out of their academy.
Louie Barry emerged from the Baggies production line but by the time he was 16, the biggest clubs in the world were circling.
PSG and Barcelona were leading the way and it was the Catalan giants who won the race for his signature.
The following years have been filled with transfer compensation wrangles, a delayed registration, a return to England and his boyhood club, and string of loans spells.
The young striker has a year left on his deal at Villa Park, which is set to expire in July 2024
As he approaches the final 12 months of his contract we have a look back at his career so far and what has happened since he burst into the headlines in 2019.
An emerging talent
As clubs began to circle, Albion tried to keep hold of a player who looked like he could become a prized asset.
But despite their eagerness to keep Barry at the club, his ten year association with Albion came to an end with he signed for Barca in July 2019, after reportedly coming close to moving to PSG.
Barry became the first English player to join Barca’s famous La Masia academy, but he had to wait three months for his international registration to be confirmed, meaning he missed the first seven matches of the club’s under 19 campaign.
At the time it was reported West Brom were due to receive in the region of £230,000 for Barry, but the situation would quickly turn ugly.
This was contested by Barca, who said they did not believe the scholarship Albion had offered Barry had international standing.
Eventually, more than two years later, a judgement ruled in favour of the La Liga club in November 2021 ruling Albion were due no further compensation.
The situation was explained in meeting of the Albion Assembly, a group of fans who meet with club officials, in late 2021.
It was stated that players can be offered a scholarship at 14, which is recognised domestically but not by FIFA, who state that in order to satisfy their rules, a further offer must be made at 15.
Albion’s academy manager Richard Stevens said that according to a FIFA report, a second offer was not made. In the notes of the meeting, it read: “RS (Richard Stevens) said the club needs to ensure this never happens again.”
Barcelona
Barry signed a three year deal and made his debut for the under 19 side in October 2019, netting in his first start.
He made ten competitive appearances in the 2019/2020 season and scored twice, but just six months into his deal he was set for a return to home soil, which led to more controversy.
Boyhood return
In January 2020, it was reported that after six months at Barca, Barry was in talks with his boyhood club Aston Villa.
Later that month he signed for the club for £880,000, a fee that could rise to £3.5m with add ons.
He opened up about his time at Barca and the chance to make a move to his boyhood club in a BBC special last year.
Leave a Reply