Aston Villa braced for Celtic approach as transfer dilemma emerges
Scottish champions Celtic are reportedly preparing a bid to sign Aston Villa forward Louie Barry.
The 21-year-old was recalled from his loan spell at Stockport County earlier this month and was expected to head back out on loan. However, Celtic are said to be interested in snapping him up on a permanent basis following his impressive first half of the campaign in League One.
The Daily Record claim Celtic are lining up a seven-figure offer for Barry to test Villa's resolve. Unai Emery was asked about Barry's future last week, but he claimed a decision was yet to be made.
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He added: "He trained with us and we are going to make a plan with him, an overall plan. I think he is a very good player who is progressing very well. He has been on loan doing fantastic. Now we can have a new plan with him.
"He improved because he was scoring a lot of goals on loan. With us he only trained today and yesterday. Of course we are going to try and get a good plan for the club with him."
Barry scored 15 goals in 23 League One games in the first half of this season, leaving Dave Challinor's side as the division's top scorer.
He spent the whole of last season at Stockport and helped them to the League Two title after bagging nine times in 20 games, but missed a portion of the season due to a hamstring injury.
