Regardless of their wonderful season thus far, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers is not glad, searching for reinforcements within the January switch window.
On Tuesday evening, the Hoops required a 93rd-minute Arne Engles penalty to salvage a 3-3 draw with Dundee concluding a chaotic evening at Dens Park.
The Celts had been concerned in an much more noteworthy 3-3 draw final month, defeating fierce rivals Rangers after a penalty shootout within the League Cup Remaining, with Kasper Schmeichel the Hampden hero.
Given that they are at the moment 16 factors clear on the high of the Scottish Premiership, a lot focus is on Celtic’s Champions League marketing campaign, at the moment twenty first within the gigantic league desk, on the right track to achieve the knockout levels, forward of a pivotal assembly with the competitors’s backside facet BSC Younger Boys subsequent mid-week.
Earlier than then, might Rodgers have a brand new signing or two to parade round Parkhead?
Celtic searching for to signal star on mortgage
In accordance with Lyall Thomas and Anthony Joseph of Sky Sports activities, Celtic have ‘made enquiries’ about the potential of signing Louie Barry on mortgage from Aston Villa for the remainder of the season, dealing with competitors from a variety of EFL Championship golf equipment.
They add that Villa supervisor Unai Emery plans to ‘assess’ the teen in coaching earlier than making a concrete determination over his future.
Nonetheless solely 21-years-old, Barry has already had an attention-grabbing profession, first making headlines by becoming a member of Barcelona’s fabled la Masia academy from West Bromwich Albion in 2019, earlier than returning to England a yr later, signing for Aston Villa for a reported £880,000.
He was then within the highlight once more in January 2021; with the whole Villa first crew and training workers in isolation as a consequence of a Covid-19 outbreak, the U23s had been tasked with dealing with Premier League champions Liverpool in a fourth-round tie, with Barry firing the kids in entrance, a tremendous second, even when the Reds finally fought again to prevail 4-1.
Louie Barry’s profession objective report
Barry has been despatched out on varied loans by Villa, showing for Ipswich, Swindon, Milton Keynes, Salford and Stockport, staring for the Hatters this season, scoring 15 objectives in simply 24 appearances, named EFL League One participant of the month in each August and November, as Dave Challinor’s facet chase back-to-back promotions.
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He is been so spectacular that Barry was recalled from his mortgage spell at Edgeley, his remaining look for Stockport coming towards Villa’s fierce rivals Birmingham Metropolis on New Yr’s Day, this was not a coincidence, waving farewell following a 1-1 draw.
It’s clear that Barry has been getting higher each season.
Louis Barry season comparability (21/22 – 24/25) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Tier | Video games | Objectives | Assists |
2021/22 | EFL League Two | 25 | 7 | 2 |
2022/23 | EFL League One & Two | 53 | 3 | 4 |
2023/24 | EFL League Two | 22 | 9 | 4 |
2024/25 | EFL League One | 24 | 15 | 3 |
All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt |
As outlined, even on the halfway level of this marketing campaign, Barry has already scored extra objectives than ever earlier than, making the step as much as England’s third tier, doubtlessly able to step as much as an excellent larger degree of soccer.
Daniel Storey of the i Paper notes that he was Barcelona’s “first English prodigy”, with Barry himself stating “I cherished my time in Barcelona… however I made a decision to return again near house [when] we had obtained wind that Covid-19 is perhaps a giant factor.”
So now, might a transfer north of Hadrian’s Wall be the following step in Barry’s younger profession?
Why Louie Barry can be signing for Celtic
Celtic are all the time in search of additional attacking firepower; within the period of 5 substitutes, even when Nicolas Kühn and Daizen Maeda are the first-choice wingers, Rodgers all the time needs high quality choices to deliver off the bench.
With Luis Palma reportedly on his method out and Yang Hyun-jun hardly ever suggesting he’s as much as the usual, Barry will surely get alternatives as one in every of Celtic’s wide-forward, or doubtlessly as one of many dual-eights.
The Hoops have actually had profitable mortgage signings prior to now too, with Adam Idah, Paulo Bernardo, Jota, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Odsonne Édouard all shining on mortgage initially, earlier than their offers had been made everlasting.
On condition that that is unlikely to be the case for Barry, might he have an identical impression to that of Tim Weah’s transient stint in Glasgow six years in the past?
Weah arrived on mortgage from Paris Saint-Germain in January 2019, simply 18-years-old on the time, however had an instantaneous impression, scoring throughout his first two appearances for the membership towards St Mirren after which Airdrieonians.
He would go on to attain 4 occasions in simply 17 appearances, turning into a followers’ favorite because the Hoops clinched the treble-treble.
The American has gone on to be a USMNT star, now a key participant for Juventus, so if Barry arrives this month, he’ll even be hoping to have a serious, if transient, impression at Celtic, similar to Weah.
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