Louie Barry transfer latest amid Aston Villa “new plan” for Sheffield United. Sheffield Wednesday target

Unai Emery, the Aston Villa manager, has admitted that a “new plan” will be laid out for young hotshot amid transfer interest from Sheffield United and their city rivals Wednesday in this current window. The 21-year-old is back at Villa after being recalled from his loan spell at Stockport County in the first half of the season, which saw him score 15 goals.

The Blades identified him as a player of interest as they look for a player capable of playing wide left and up front, although Southampton’s Ben Brereton Diaz remains their first-choice option for that role. A number of Championship clubs are also keen on Barry, including Wednesday and United’s promotion rivals Leeds United, while Derby County were reportedly leading the race earlier this week.

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Emery confirmed that a decision had not yet been made on Barry’s future in the Midlands, adding: “He trained with us and we are going to make a plan with him, an overall plan. I think he is a very good player who is progressing well. He has been on loan, doing fantastic.

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“Now we can have a new plan with him. He improved because he was scoring a lot of goals on loan. With us he only trained today and yesterday. Of course we are going to try and get a good plan for the club with him.”

Barry spent 10 years with West Brom as a youngster before hitting the headlines with an eye-catching move to Barcelona in 2019. He moved to villa for an initial fee in the region of £900,000 and signed a new deal in the summer of 2023 before joining Stockport for the first of two loan spells.