West Brom will be worried £1m Aston Villa deal is next Louie Barry or Finn Azaz: View | OneFootball

Aston Villa have developed a knack for stealing West Brom's best young talents over the past few years, much to the annoyance of Baggies fans - and that could be a problem yet again with Keilan Quinn's move to Villa Park.

Albion's academy has produced some superb talents in recent seasons, including current starlet Tom Fellows, Dara O'Shea and Morgan Rogers - and with the club looking to qualify for the play-offs, any external income from selling their talents will help them consistently challenge for years to come.

But that has become consistently harder in years gone by, with Villa pinching their talents - and the Baggies will be hoping that Quinn's move to Villa doesn't follow the same route as Louis Barry and Finn Azaz.

Quinn joined Villa at the start of March after an impressive spell at West Brom, where he featured regularly in midfield for the Baggies at youth level at the age of 15 before his 16th birthday in September.

Moving to Villa, the 16-year-old has already made 13 appearances in the under-18 Premier League this campaign, registering one goal and one assist across both clubs; but despite bringing him through their youth ranks, Baggies fans will be wary that he could be the next player Villa have snagged away from the Hawthorns to do well.

The fee was a reported £1million to take him across the Midlands, but should he go on to have a good career at Villa Park, it could be a case of Déjà vu for the Baggies.

Why West Brom could be worried about Aston Villa's deal for Keilan Quinn

There have been more than two instances in the recent past of Villa stealing talent away from West Brom's academy, with Tim Iroegbunam also moving from the Baggies to the Villains in 2021 - Morgan Rogers also passed through Man City after leaving Albion before signing for Villa in the previous transfer window.

And whilst Barry and Azaz haven't regularly featured for Villa in their professional careers, the duo have got lots of potential to exploit and in Azaz's terms, the Irishman brought in a decent-sized fee for the UEFA Europa Conference League-chasing outfit thanks to his move to Middlesbrough this season.

Barry spent 10 years at West Brom before moving to Barcelona after a decade - and having been the first English player to join La Masia at the age of 16, he joined Villa just a few months later for a fee of £1 million.

He’s not featured for Villa in the league, but loan spells at Swindon Town, Milton Keynes Dons, Salford City and Stockport County - and whilst his spell at the Edgeley Park outfit has been fruitful by recording a league title to his name, it’s easy to forget that Barry is just 20 years of age, with his name having been around prominent circles for half a decade after his venture abroad.

Azaz has undergone a similar route. He joined the Baggies in the same year as Barry back in 2009, but after 12 years of development, Villa signed him at the age of 21. And, after superb loan spells at Newport County and Plymouth Argyle - in which he earned a League One winners’ medal at Home Park - Azaz had clearly impressed enough to earn a permanent deal at Middlesbrough, who he joined in January.

Three goals in 17 appearances has seen him become a regular in Michael Carrick's side, and whilst he has moved away from Villa, they brought in a fee of around £2.5million for his services. Had he stayed at West Brom, there would likely be more Championship football on offer for Azaz and he could, in an alternate view, have been influential in their season at present.

If Quinn can develop at a rapid rate of knots like other former Albion players have done at Villa Park, then he could follow in the footsteps of someone like Azaz and become a Championship regular and be worth more than the £1 million that Villa have gambled on paying for his services.