Exclusive:There's something about Sheffield Wednesday new boy Louie Barry
Sheffield Wednesday new boy Louie Barry is on a mission to make the most of his new home. He seems a fascinating character. Alex Miller reports.
There was a moment in Sheffield Wednesday’s friendly run-out against Stoke City in Vienna that saw Louie Barry turn to the sparse collection of spectators to ask a question.
Bounding on to a Barry Bannan through-ball, the wide man had been flagged offside by a linesman who throughout the exercise seemed to have made being several yards out of position something of a routine. The incident happened to take place bang in-line with the small media ensemble sat up in the stand. After a grimace, the Owls new boy shot a cheeky glance to the press box and raised his voice in asking: “Was it off or what? A little bit? Ooft.” A roll of the eyes, and off with a grin he ran.
It provided a lighter moment in a feisty run-out taken deadly seriously by all involved. Having spoken to The Star from the Owls’ Hungarian training camp a few days earlier, it felt somehow familiar. Settling down into a comfortable chair for a first meeting with the local press, he reassured a Wednesday media man that “It’s alright, I’ve done loads of these” while shooting a half-wink in our direction. There’s something a wee bit fun, brash and mischievous about Louie Barry.
The 23-year-old arrives to the Owls as the marquee signing of their manic summer rebuild. His reputation in EFL football is an exciting one, built on three hugely successful loans with a Stockport County side overseen by new Wednesday sporting director Simon Wilson. His grounding in youth football took in a headline-grabbing switch to Barcelona and a debut goal against Liverpool. Barry’s has been a fascinating career already though in many ways it’s just getting going.
Driven in no small part by a desire to get out and play football rather than aim for slow and steady improvement in the youth ranks, Barry’s CV includes nine loan moves. Alongside his Stockport triple come Ipswich Town, Swindon Town, MK Dons, Salford City, Hull City and, yes, Sheffield United. All came after Villa, the club he grew up supporting, took him from Barca’s La Masia academy after six months for a fee of nearly £1m with add-ons in the post. He started out with West Brom.
Now, signed to Wednesday on a four-year contract that carries a further year’s extension option, he is hoping to set roots in South Yorkshire. It’s a two-way mission; this Owls writer doesn’t remember the club offering-out a contract of that length in seven years covering the club. With a cheeky, confident personality packed in his hand luggage, he’s set about settling in, first at St George’s Park and then in Europe.
“It's rare that you join a club and you’re straight in, non-stop, every day with them,” he told The Star. “That's been great and good for bonding for me with the team. I've been with them throughout the whole day rather than just training and going home.
“Obviously with this being at a permanent home now, it's a bit different in terms of what I’ve had previously, coming in and out in five months or six months. These are the teammates that I'm going to have for years to come hopefully. So yeah, it's a strange one for me, it's something I have to change my perspective on in a good way.
“When you're a fan and you're watching it from the outside, you see a player going from club to club and you might just think ‘that's their job’. But they maybe don't really take into account that everyone wants to feel stability, everyone wants a home. When you are bouncing around from club to club, here and there, it can be difficult.
“Look I'm not saying that wasn't my decision, because I wanted to go out on loan all the time. When my first loan at Ipswich didn’t go so well I told Villa straight away that I wanted to go out to League Two. I never wanted to just chill for a bit and waste my career for six months. I wanted to keep on going out.
“If I had a tough spell, I wanted to go again and try and get better and better and better, but I was jumping around and I feel like that has been my career... I'm just turning 23 now and I knew this is what I needed. As soon as this came up, as soon as I got the call, I was like, ‘Whatever we can do now to get this over the line, let's please just make it happen.’ I'm just so happy that it has.”
There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance and Barry straddles it well. A photo of him playing in the England youth set-up with Jamal Musiala and Jude Bellingham did the rounds on social media last week and he tells The Star he has the time and ability to reach the elite level alongside them. Speaking with a rhythmical swagger, arms dipped in sleeve tattoos and brandishing earrings on both lobes, it would be easy to cynically stereotype him as a typical Premier League academy type; too much too young, all fast cars and slow progress.
But there’s a charm to him and a grounding beneath his bombast. He speaks of the importance of delivering success to Sheffield Wednesday and how aware he is of the size of a club that last played in the Premier League three years before he was even born. He recognises the reasons some loan switches haven’t worked out quite as he would have liked and he extolls the virtues of hard work.
In a side Wilson and the club’s coaching staff are building to press and provide speed, dynamism and energy, Barry looks well-suited both in and out of possession and both in behind-the-scenes training sessions and against Stoke. On a slippery surface at the OFB Campus, the youngster skated across the turf and showed moments of both caution-throwing and sureity on the ball. Together with Max Lowe and Bannan, an interesting partnership appears to be developing wide left. In training, he so often skipped past teammates and on one occasion produced a backheel finish so outrageous it left a goalkeeper screaming into the Budapest air.
All this said, there’s no guarantees in football and Barry appears self-aware enough to recognise a new club requires a new outlook. A season-long loan stint at Bramall Lane came without much success amid managerial changes and injury knocks and was ended in the January. But he’s back in the city to achieve for Wednesday, not to prove any kind of point to United. He giggles when it’s suggested he’s found his way to the right side of the city.
“It was a hard one,“ he said. “Ruben Selles brought me in and obviously I’d had a good relationship with him at Hull. I felt like I was just getting to grips with things, I hadn't had too much experience in the Championship really and it takes time to adapt to a new level. I came out of the side, got an injury and never really got going.
“Look, maybe I've got a point to prove. It wasn't the best loan in the world, but I know I can do it in the Championship, I've got 100% belief. I'm not one to go ‘Come on then, doubters!’ I think it’s because I know in my own self, I've got the ability for it. I know they’re on the other side but I don't really look into it as much. I want to do well for Wednesday, that's just it.”
His only appearance at Hillsborough to date is an unmemorable one, a 2023 Carabao Cup clash during Xisco’s short reign in the Wednesday hotseat in which Barry missed a penalty in a shootout brought about by a late Tyreeq Bakinson equaliser. Hardly vintage. But there is a match that brings him to a grin when thinking back, that he feels painted a picture of what to expect from the Owls fanbase.
“I have experienced the away fans,” he said, pausing almost for dramatic impact while remembering a match that saw Josh Windass score the winner in an Owls win early on in their last promotion campaign. “It was when I was at MK Dons, my first home game at MK Dons, I think. They’d sold a lot of the stadium to Wednesday and, honestly, it felt like an away game at home. It was just a wall of Sheffield Wednesday and I remember thinking, ‘Wow that is crazy, every ticket has been taken’. It was the whole of the other side of the stadium, it was crazy. I do remember stopping and thinking that.
“Since I've been in professional football Wednesday have been League One and the Champ, but you know how big a club it is. You see the fans, you see everything, and the club is massive, it's a Premier League club, I fully believe. Just get it to where it belongs would be amazing. There's many teams that drop down, but none as big as Sheffield Wednesday really, you rarely see it.
“It’s a massive, massive club, and I know exactly how big it is, it’s probably even bigger than I think right now, to be honest. Every player, every person wants to play for a big club, wants to play in front of great fans, and a lot of fans. It's every child's dream isn't it? I'd be stupid not wanting to play for such a massive club. I know it’s all a cliché, but I can't wait.”
With bedding-in time to bear in mind, there will be a degree of onus on Barry to produce the goods going forward in what already looks a revitalised attacking left-hand side at S6. There is work to be done to bolster the attacking areas and work will continue on the training ground to sharpen the unit’s movements both in and out of possession.
Pedersen’s preference for an active press and fast transition has been obvious in training sessions in Europe this past week and its an approach that Barry should suit. A League One record of 19 goals and six assists in his 53 appearances at League One level shows the sort of pedigree Wednesday have invested in. The club will have to work with nous and a little luck amid their proximity to spending restrictions but with the right players around him and others, there’s a hope things can click promptly.
What will suit players with Barry’s apparent sensibilities is the spirit that has been harnessed at Wednesday since the Arise takeover. Record season ticket sales have been cause and effect of a rampant feeling of optimism. Should that continue, it is an environment he believes he can thrive in.
“I know my abilities so when I'm fit and firing and I've got the confidence, it’s hard to stop me,” he said. “That confidence comes from the players that you play with, but also comes from the fans, it comes from everyone. I just can't wait to get going.
“As I say, I'm not one to go, ‘I want to prove everyone wrong’, but I do want to show how good I am, and I want to show my abilities all the time, no matter what stage I'm going through in my career. I want to go to a game, whoever I'm playing against, and I want every fan, every player, to go, ‘Oh he was good’. That's what I have in my brain. It won’t happen every time, but that's what I want to strive for.
“I want to score, I want to assist, I want to work hard. If you put the effort in, then it comes back for you. I believe that I can go and score goals and work hard and that's what makes a successful player in a successful team. When you’ve got the talent, everyone can do that and everyone is buying into it. I feel it is going to happen and it's going to go up and up. That's what I'm excited for.”
Wrapping up, he enquires if the interview went well and skips off through the lobby. Bubbly, personable, confident with just a shard of vulnerability; there’s something about Louie Barry.