Barcelona complete the signing of promising youngster, Louie Barry, from West Bromwich Albion.
Barcelona add another English player to their academy ranks as the club announced the signing of 16-year-old, Louis Barry, from English-side, West Bromwich.
According to Mundo Deportivo, Barry signed a three-year deal with Barcelona and will join their Juvenil A side upon arrival. He comes with a lot of promise at such a young age and is considered one of the best English strikers in his age group.
https://twitter.com/FCBarcelona/status/1149325007845253120
Diario Sport claim that the signings is a bit of a coup for Barcelona as there were plenty of other teams interested in Barry. One such team was PSG. In fact, PSG were in pole position to sign the youngster. Almost all the details were in place for him to sign with the Parisian side. But at the last-minute, the player and his mother opted to sign for Barcelona instead.
Barry had been with West Brom since the age of six and turned down a professional contract from the Magpies. The BBC report that West Brom stand to make around £235,000 in compensation.
However, since it’s Barcelona, not even the signing of an academy player can be without its drama.
Despite an agreement being reached, West Brom were reportedly ‘fuming’ at Barcelona’s announcement because they considered it premature. Sky Sports News, Barry Dorsett, reported that West Brom and the English FA have yet to finalize all the paperwork.
#wba bosses fuming with #barcelona for announcing signing of 16-yr-old star Louie Barry, I’ve been told. English FA and Albion haven’t completed paperwork yet, and Barry won’t be allowed to play in Spain until that’s done. £235k compensation they feel is paltry.
— Rob Dorsett (@RobDorsettSky) July 11, 2019
Whether it means in increase in compensation or not remains to be seen.
In any case, Louie Barry becomes a rarity in that he left to continue his career abroad rather than signing with the academies of a Premier League side. It’s a tough choice to leave one’s country to go to another and essentially have to start from scratch. He’ll need to learn a new language, culture, etc. He joins Marcus McGuane, another Englishman, who is also currently in the Barcelona system at Barça B.
Having won a golden boot with England’s U-16 side and performing well in other youth tournaments, the Catalan giants see him as a striker with tremendous upside and one they believe will have an impact on the first team when his time comes.