Aston Villa transfer decision arises over Crewe Alexandra and Stockport County stars

Louie Barry was on target on Saturday as he scored scored the only goal of the game to defeat Wrexham 1-0. Barry took his place at the top of the top scorer charts in League One, scoring 11 goals in 16 games. He averages a goal once every 110 minutes with a shot accuracy rate of 49%.

Prior to the match, according to Opta Sports, Barry had been involved in the most attacking sequences in the division. He ranked first for shots and shots on target, as well as successful dribbles and was second for goal involvements.

The 21-year-old is clearly enjoying himself at Edgeley Park, and it would perhaps be unwise to cause him any unrest by recalling him in January. Villa’s inter-city rivals Birmingham City reportedly looked at Barry in the summer, and given how much they spent on Jay Stansfield and others, it’s clear they’ve got big enough pockets to afford him.

With the Sutton Coldfield winger penning a new deal before being loaned out to Stockport, he remains under contract at Villa, but they will be faced with a decision to make either in January or the summer. It's hard for players to break in to the first-team and Jaden Philogene had to move to Hull City before he could get in to the picture under Unai Emery. Barry has shown some promise at Stockport and has overcome adversity having recovered from a serious injury to try and prove he can make it in the men’s game.

Another player that is catching the eye in the Football League is goalkeeper Filip Marschall. He’s with Crewe Alexandra and is their first-choice goalkeeper. He's played in 18 matches this season, and has kept six clean sheets.

The 21-year-old kept a clean sheet for the Alex in the weekend in their 2-0 win over Notts County. Crewe find themselves in second battling for automatic promotion, and Marschall’s a big part of that, having conceded just 13 goals in 14 games.

He's under contract until the summer of 2027, but faces an unenviable task of trying to displace several goalkeepers who are all ahead of him in the pecking order. World Cup winner Emi Martinez plays every week, and then Joe Gauci plays in the cup competitions. Robin Olsen is also there to provide Martinez and Gauci with competition, and Oliwier Zych has around the three experienced shot-stoppers.

In the summer, Villa sold Viljami Sinisalo to Celtic, and he is older than Marschall by two-years. Marschall's slightly behind Sinisalo in that the highest level he's played at is League Two, whilst the Finn had spent the last season-and-a-half in League One.

Nevertheless, Marschall has put himself in a good position when his loan at Gresty Road expires. He may have done enough to get a move higher up in the pyramid, or he can see things out and experience a potential promotion.