How Stockport County are hoping to fill Louie Barry void after Aston Villa recall | OneFootball

New signings, a rejuvenated Tanto Olaofe and tactical flexibility will be key for the Hatters

While a large chunk of the EFL are battling for Louie Barry's signature, Stockport County's winter task is different, filling the hole left by his departure.

Barry's second loan spell at Edgeley Park saw him establish himself as one of the best players in League One, scoring 16 times in 24 appearances for County, but his exploits did not go unnoticed by parent club Aston Villa or Championship clubs.

The 21-year-old was recalled at the start of January and while Hatters fans will be keeping an eye out for where the much-loved former loanee goes next, their main focus is surely how to fill the void.

Replacing his goals will be vital for Dave Challinor's side as they look to maintain their promotion push in League One but the reality is that Stockport can't just sign a player of his quality in the January transfer window and their manager knows that all too well.

Speaking after Sunday's FA Cup defeat to Crystal Palace, when a finisher of the quality of Barry could well have been the difference, Challinor outlined how County will look to replace the forward after Villa recalled him.

With more than half the transfer window to go, new recruits will be important but so will tactical flexibility and getting the best out of the players already at the club.

A rejuvenated Tanto Olaofe could make a difference

Key among those that Challinor will look to in Barry's absence is Tanto Olaofe. The two are different types of forwards but as last season proved, Olaofe is a player capable of scoring regular goals and, though the 2024/25 campaign has been difficult for him, his performance against Palace showed that he is on his way back to his best.

The 25-year-old scored 20 times to help the Hatters win promotion last term and was hoping to carry that form into League One before suffering a pre-season injury. It's taken him time to get back up to speed and his goal return this term, six goals in 28 games, reflects that but he was the visitors' best player at Selhurst Park.

He was a constant nuisance for the Eagles' backline, causing problems for the likes of England international Marc Guehi throughout and was at the heart of Stockport's best two chances of the afternoon.

Soon after Ebere Eze's opener, the forward took down an aerial crossfield ball, beat his defender, and sent a probing cross to the back post where Kyle Wootton was unable to turn it goalward. Early in the second half, he forced an error from the Palace backline – robbing Chris Richards inside the box and only being denied by a strong Matt Turner save.

Those were the headline moments but throughout Sunday afternoon's game, Olaofe made dangerous runs, took on and beat Premier League defenders, and was the League One side's biggest threat.

Getting him confident and scoring regular goals could prove make all the difference as Stockport chase the play-offs, and would help to fill the void left by Barry's recall. That fact is not lost on Challinor.

"He has to be (a difference-maker in the second half of the season)," said the County boss at Selhurst Park. "Tanto had a really tough first half of the season. He went away pre-season, a way of him hitting the ground running based on 20 goals that he scored last year, and picked up an injury that kept him out for eight weeks. He's been playing catch-up ever since.

"In that time, Louie Barry came in and scored a load of goals. Louie's obviously gone back and it's important that we get Tanto up to speed. He missed some games over Christmas with a slight hamstring issue but without us playing really, really well today, and we'd like to have opened up a bit more and played more expansive, Tanto showed the threats he has against, be clear, an England international, who is a fantastic defender.

"Just by his willingness to run and be aggressive and be a nuisance, he got in really good areas, opportunities to score. We've just got to keep him rolling and start getting him the goals because he will have a huge impact in the second half of the season."

New signings and tactical flexibility

As dangerous a player as Olaofe can be, no one is expecting him to just step in and replace Barry's output. Beyond anything else, they're different players, with different strengths.

Getting the 25-year-old back to his best would be huge for Stockport but they will seek to replace the Villa forward in other ways as well. One of those is by signing more forward firepower.

Speaking after Palace, Challinor said: "Will we try and bring bodies in at the top end of the pitch? Yes, absolutely."

Who that will be remains to be seen. The Hatters are likely one of a host of League One sides watching Nathan Lowe's situation at Stoke City closely. The 19-year-old had scored 18 goals and provided seven assists on loan at Walsall in the first half of the season before being recalled by the Potters, whose plans for him are unclear at this point.

They will have a list of targets they're working through as they look to give Challinor the tools he needs to mount another promotion challenge in what's left of the 2024/25 campaign. He has weapons already, in the physical Kyle Wootton, raw but highly-rated new arrival Benoný Breki Andrésson, summer signing Jack Diamond, and, of course, Olaofe, and expects to be a little more pragmatic in his tactical approach in the second half of the season, with tactical flexibility likely to be key to getting the best out of Olaofe and his other forwards.

He said: "Last year, we were 3-5-2 with two centre-forwards and Tanto was one of them so we can tweak our system a little bit if we need to.

"Open to all types of things. One thing we want to be able to do is play in all different types of ways. Today (Sunday), out of choice, we've gone more direct because Crystal Palace's strength is pressing, they've got real legs at the top end of the pitch.

"I'm not going to openly say that we're going to naively go and split and play and try and play through Crystal Palace. We want to play in their half of the pitch and Tanto and Wootts were a threat for us in that area. We want to try and play a little bit more but Tanto's willingness to run in behind at any level will cause problems.

"You've seen what Crystal Palace have got at the top end of the pitch. Look to penetrate, they look to cause problems and he's our version of that."

Filling the void left by Barry is going to be a tough ask, players of that talent just aren't around at League One level very often, but County and Challinor clearly feel that bringing in quality reinforcements, getting Olaofe back to his best, and remaining tactically flexible can help is their best hope.