West Brom forward Louie Barry is at the centre of a tug-of-war between England and the Republic of Ireland, according to Irish journalist Aidan Fitzmaurice.
The reporter, who writes for the Irish Independent, claimed via his personal Twitter account on Tuesday night that the highly-rated 15-year-old is being poached by England after a lethal display in Ireland’s Under-16s in their 4-2 win over Bulgaria, in which he scored two goals.
This fact will probably be lost in the madness of what's to come in Wroclaw but West Brom forward Louie Barry scored two for Ireland's U16s in a 4-2 win over Bulgaria today. England have already tried to poach him (he's English born), Ireland cannot afford to lose many more.
— Aidan Fitzmaurice (@fitzmaidan) September 11, 2018
Barry, who was born in Sutton Coldfield, England, has already represented the Young Lions at Under-15s level, scoring 10 goals in five games.
OPINION
Barry looks like a quality young talent and it comes as no great shock that both England and Ireland are fighting over his national team allegiance. It is odd that Barry would play for Ireland though. He was born in England and has shown remarkable form for the Under-15s by averaging two goals per game. He is still very young though and has not long turned 15-years-old, so it could be some time before we see whether or not the striker can reach his potential. West Brom fans will be praying he does because the Black Country club’s fans pride themselves on being able to nurture young talent. Saido Berahino was the last striker to make his way through the academy and play regularly in the first team, hopefully Barry can do that and prove to have a much better attitude than the ex-Baggies badboy and this tug-of-war between two nations doesn’t inflate his ego.