Aston Villa would reportedly “prefer” for Louie Barry to leave the club on loan this month amid interest from Celtic.
The Premiership leaders are set to test Villa’s resolve this month with a seven-figure bid for the 21-year-old after he was recalled from his successful loan at Stockport County spell. The English Premier League side have offered Barry a new deal but he has still to put pen to paper with Celtic’s recruitment team flagging Barry to boss Brendan Rodgers as a potential January deal.
And The Times report that the Premier League side are looking to “give Barry a new temporary home, this time in the second tier” rather than allow the wide man to leave on a permanent basis. Foot Mercato claim that RC Lens have not been deterred by the stance of the Villa Park chiefs as they prepare a £5.9m bid plus bonuses to tempt a permanent exit.
Raul Moro has also been floated as a target for the Scottish champions – but the £8.5m-rated winger suffered a nightmare injury that looks to have ended any chance of a deal. The 22-year-old was stretched off as Real Valladolid slumped to a La Liga defeat to Espanyol.
Moro has broken his silence from hospital after undergoing surgery on the injured collarbone. He said on Instagram: “Everything went well, already thinking about recovery to come back as soon as possible. Thank you all so much for the messages of encouragement and support that I’m receiving.”
In terms of outgoings, Pat Bonner reckons that the Hoops could look to “exploit” interest in Kyogo Furuhashi to bank a bumper transfer fee. The 29-year-old has been linked with a move to Stade Rennes – and speaking to BBC Sportsound the former Celtic hero admitted there could be a temptation to sell.
He said: “Listen, Johnny Kenny has come on the scene and you did mention he’s not on the bench today. Maybe that’s the rule of only eight subs. But you definitely would love to see them get that third striker in because any big bid that comes in Celtic will be looking to see if they can exploit the players they have out there.
“And Kyogo is one of them. It’ll be interesting to see but with European competition coming up again in midweek, they need all their best players here.”