This transfer decision should be high up on Ipswich Town’s priority list: Opinion | OneFootball

Louie Barry was one of a plethora of new signings that descended on Portman Road over the summer as he swapped Aston Villa for Ipswich Town.

The 18-year-old was brought in on a season long loan deal with the main aim being to give the player a consistent amount of exposure to first team football, after spending much of his time at academy level with the likes of West Brom, Barcelona and Villa.

However things have certainly gone south for the teenager under Paul Cook so far, with Barry having been afforded an extremely paltry six appearances across all competitions for the Tractor Boys.

Despite possessing a sound reputation as one of the most promising youngsters to come out of the Midlands, the youngster has barely been afforded a kick by the Sky Bet League One side and could well be on the move at the turn of the new year.

That is a suggestion that has been made recently by The Athletic, with it being claimed that the forward is expected to be recalled to Villa Park by Steven Gerrard with a view to heading out on loan to a team where he will actually be afforded the adequate game time required in order to continue his development.

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Aside from rarely featuring on the pitch for Town, Barry has also been largely played out of position by Cook, sometimes being utilised on the left hand side and on the odd occasion slotting in as a number 10 as opposed to his preferred role of striker.

This coupled with the fact that he is behind the likes of the more experienced trio of Macauley Bonne, Conor Chaplin and Joe Pigott in the pecking order only further underlines the need for the youngster to put his spell with Ipswich behind him.

As for the third tier club themselves, they will certainly view this as something of a necessity as they try to further trim their swelled squad, with James Norwood also being a name that is likely to be shipped out in the January window.

In short, Barry’s loan with Ipswich promised much but in truth it hasn’t gone the way that either party would have wanted.