Aston Villa have decision to make regarding attacker's long-term future this summer

Aston Villa attacker Louie Barry is due to return from his loan spell at Stockport County at the end of this season.

The 20-year-old has been out injured for a large part of his stint at Edgeley Park but is closing in on his return to the action for the League Two promotion hopefuls.

Barry, who is a former England youth international, was given the green light to link up with the Hatters last summer to get some more experience under his belt.

He impressed under Dave Challinor and scored nine goals in 18 games in all competitions for the North West outfit before he was sidelined.

Aston Villa signed him back in 2020 from Barcelona and he has played once for their first-team so far in his career in a League Cup clash against Liverpool.

The forward has been loaned out to Ipswich Town, Swindon Town, MK Dons and Salford City over recent years to boost his development.

Stockport has been the place where he has managed to flourish the most and if they get promoted to League One, it wouldn't be a surprise to see them try and bring him back for a second spell.

Aston Villa need to decide what to do with him in the next campaign. It is unlikely that he will get many minutes for Unai Emery's side and another exit would help him get some more game time, especially after his injury.

It would be risky to let him go permanently as he still has a lot of potential. He remains under contract at Villa Park beyond this summer.