Deal for highly-rated striker subject to international clearance
Thursday 23 January 2020 17:28, UK
Aston Villa have signed 16-year-old striker Louie Barry from Barcelona - just six months after he joined the Spanish club.
Barry left West Brom to join Barca in July, turning down lucrative offers from a host of top European clubs - including a £2m deal with Paris Saint-Germain.
Sky Sports News reported earlier this month that the teenager was close to leaving Barcelona to return to England.
Now that the deal is complete, subject to international clearance, Barry will go straight into the academy set-up at Villa.
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."
Sky Sports will bring you the very latest news from the January transfer market with the return of three shows.
How to follow the January transfer window with Sky Sports
Start your day with Good Morning Transfers at 9am as our team of reporters bring you the latest news and insight. Transfer Talk then follows at midday delivering analysis of the biggest stories. Then join us at 7pm for the definitive round-up of the day's news with The Transfer Show.
Meanwhile, the Transfer Talk podcast will also be back at the turn of the year with more expert analysis from here and across the continent.
And as well as tuning into Sky Sports News, don't miss a thing with our dedicated Transfer Centre blog.
