Louie Barry is on the verge of joining Aston Villa, with Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo reporting the transfer to Dean Smith’s side will be made official within days.
Signing for Barcelona in the summer, Barry had previously been with Aston Villa’s local rivals West Brom, and he turned down a big offer from PSG to move to the Camp Nou.
Signing a three year contract there were big hopes for his future but he hasn’t settled in at all well. First there were problems with his registration and when that was completed he struggled to get into the team for his age range.
As far as the Catalan media have it, there have been considerations recently to drop him down a level so he could get more games and then move up again. That has now been shelved and Aston Villa are closing in.
Mundo Deportivo states the Premier League club will be paying €1.5m for the transfer, which represents a profit of €600k for Barcelona, as it’s claimed they paid West Brom €900k.
This would contradict reports local to West Brom that Barca were only ever going to pay training compensation, and that they haven’t even paid that yet.
