Stockport County can go from hunted to hunter with Stoke City action | OneFootball

The Hatters have some work to do in the January transfer window

Stockport County enter the January transfer window in search of goals.

Not because they haven’t been scoring but because their scorer-in-chief, Louie Barry, has just been recalled by Aston Villa, potentially to test himself with a Championship loan in the second half of the season.

His 15 goals make up a significant portion of the 37 scored by the League One club so far and will need to be replaced.

With Nathan Lowe having a similarly successful season for Walsall in League Two, on loan from Stoke City, the Hatters should learn from their Barry experience and make the same move further down the food chain.

Stockport County could use a player like Nathan Lowe

Having scored 15 League One goals at this point in the season, it’s reasonable to suggest it’s time for Barry to test himself at the next level, so it’s just as reasonable to suggest that Lowe — now on 14 League Two goals at this stage — is on a similar trajectory.

Lowe and Barry are not the same players, but if the Walsall loanee can offer anything similar to the output of Barry, then County manager Dave Challinor will be more than willing to make stylistic tweaks to make it work.

Current forward Kyle Wootton is ideal for making the ball stick high up the field and scrapping with defenders, but has cut an isolated figure of late, especially with the departure of Barry.

Lowe is capable of all kinds of finishes. Left foot, right foot, headers, shots from distance, close-range poaches, and latching onto channel balls – he’s shown it all at the Poundland Bescot Stadium this term. He has a lot to offer in terms of being someone to work off Wootton and combine with the towering forward.

Challinor has also in recent times, with the return of the likes of Macauley Southam-Hales, Kyle Knoyle and Ryan Rydel, returned to his favoured 3-5-2 system — coincidentally the same shape Lowe has been adapting to all season under Mat Sadler at Walsall.

County may struggle to find another example of the eye-catching football played by Barry this season, but they may be able to recreate the output he delivered through Lowe.

Edgeley Park would be a great destination for Nathan Lowe

In their favour, the Hatters can boast of offering higher-level football — with the added bonus of a charge to the play-off places to play for — a similar system and a natural squad opening to reassure parent club Stoke of the teenager’s playing minutes.

But, crucially, what may set County apart from the crowd in any deliberations about where to send Lowe, if indeed the Potters do opt for a recall, is the club’s recent track record, namely with Barry.

They took the forward from a string of unsuccessful loan spells and, in the space of 18 months, helped platform him to the point where a host of Championship clubs are vying for his signature.

If they can do that from Barry’s starting point, what might they be able to do for Lowe from a much more promising beginning?

That factor may help to convince a player, that Football League World understands has already turned down a League One move, to make the jump to the third tier this month.

The Hatters will face stern competition

There are plenty of strong selling points in County’s favour, and they’ll need to utilise them all — it doesn’t take the most covert of scouts to uncover a teenager scoring for fun in the league below, and plenty of third-tier sides have clocked on as Huddersfield Town's interest shows.

If County do show interest in Lowe, they can be assured they won’t be alone, but he could be the answer to a lot of their current issues, and they have a strong enough case to make themselves frontrunners in the race — if they can tempt Stoke into a recall first, that is.