Louie Barry

Louie Mark Barry (born 21 June 2003) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker and winger for League One club Ipswich Town, on loan from Premier League club Aston Villa.

Having spent a decade in the West Bromwich Albion Academy he moved to Barcelona in 2019, becoming the first English player to join and play for the La Masia academy. He subsequently joined the Aston Villa Academy in January 2020. Barry has represented both England and the Republic of Ireland at youth international level.

Club Career

West Bromwich Albion

Barry joined the West Bromwich Albion academy at the age of six and by 2018, had progressed to the U21 squad.

Barcelona

After spending ten years with West Bromwich Albion, he signed a three-year contract with Spanish club Barcelona in July 2019. He had previously been close to signing for French club Paris Saint-Germain. He became the first English player to join La Masia.

In September 2019 it was announced that West Bromwich Albion were going to report Barcelona to FIFA 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 West Brom 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. Barry made his competitive debut for Barcelona's under-19 side in October 2019, scoring on his first start, in a 6–0 victory against Ebro. He made ten competitive under-19 appearances in the league and UEFA Youth 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 curtailed the youth season.

Aston Villa

In January 2020 he held talks