He’s back!
We are thrilled to announce that Aston Villa forward, Louie Barry has returned to the Club on a season-long loan deal.
The 21-year-old became an instant fan favourite at Edgeley Park last season after enjoying an electric loan spell; scoring nine times in just 20 league appearances as County were crowned Champions of League Two, our first EFL title in 57 years.
The forward’s form in the opening months of last season was key, as Dave Challinor’s side recovered from a slow start to the campaign before storming to the top of the table. Throughout August and September, Louie scored in seven consecutive league games for the Club – a new post-war Club record for a single season, earning him both the League Two Player of the Month and EFL Young Player of the Month awards for September.
An injury picked up against Crewe in October kept him out of action for several months, but he returned at the back end of the season in time to lift the League Two trophy at Edgeley Park.
Having returned to Villa Park over the Summer, Louie has been training with Villa’s first-team during the first half of pre-season – recently scoring for Unai Emery’s side in a friendly win over Walsall.
The Birmingham-born forward, who has previous experience of playing in League One during spells with Ipswich Town and MK Dons, will be present at Edgeley Park tonight for our pre-season game against Blackburn Rovers and could be involved in one of our two pre-season outings over the weekend.
Welcome back, Louie!
First-Team Manager, Dave Challinor said:
“It’s brilliant news that Louie will be back with us as we venture into League One. We’ve been pretty open with our desire to make this happen but understood we had to be patient, but it’s finally done.
“Louie had a huge impact in the early part of last season and it was great for him to come back and be able to not only finish the job, but enjoy the celebrations of being League Two Champions. We are so excited to see Louie back at 100% fitness and have a similar impact on a higher division.
“Aston Villa have been fantastic with us and maybe the most important factor was Louie’s desire to come back here, despite lots of interest from other clubs. He’s fit, has played minutes and the supporters will hopefully see him back in a County shirt this weekend.”
Director of Football, Simon Wilson said:
“We are delighted to welcome Louie back to the Club and continue our exciting journey together. There’s no question that he had a transformational effect on our team last year, giving us a threat that was hard to replace after he got injured.
“We’ve been like dog muck on a shoe all summer to Aston Villa trying to bring him back and I’m so happy to see our efforts rewarded. He comes into a group of players who I think compliment each other. Last time was so good, but I hope this time can be even better.
“A big thank you to Louie, who has also pushed this, and Aston Villa who are always terrific to deal with.”
Watch our full interview with Louie below:
