Aston Villa confirmed on Tuesday that Louie Barry had joined MK Dons on a season-long loan, which may have surprised supporters hoping to see him turning out for the first-team.
The 19-year-old has been tipped for a bright future after a brief stint at Barcelona while impressing at youth level at West Bromwich Albion and Villa. He also scored on his senior debut against Liverpool, but it’s clear Barry isn’t developing as fast as expected.
He’s risen through the youth ranks to the fringes of Villa’s first-team since joining from Barca in 2020, scoring eight goals with four assists from eight games for the U18s, scoring 15 goals with two assists from 22 games for the U23s and scoring one goal from one game at senior level.
Barry found himself behind Ollie Watkins, Keinan Davis and Danny Ings in the pecking order last season, so he was loaned out to League Two outfit Swindon Town (2022) – the 19-year-old scored six goals with one assist. He’s now at League One MK Dons, so that’s still two divisions below the level he wants to be at.
Barry isn’t a striker anymore either, having spent last season at a left-sided forward, so he might have been the victim of overhyping. Villa fans expected him to be challenging Ings and Watkins to a starting place, but Cameron Archer has now overtaken him and now he’s not even considered a centre-forward due to his size.
In other news, Steven Gerrard has a problem with too many attackers at Aston Villa
