EXCLUSIVE: Lionesses prospect Keira Barry on leaving Man Utd, how Bay FC switch led to first call from Sarina Wiegman and the influx of English talent in the NWSL

It’s fair to say that Keira Barry’s first senior England call-up was unexpected. After injuries plagued the early years of her professional career, it was in February that the young forward ended her 10-year association with Manchester United and moved to the United States to sign for Bay FC. Exactly a month after her debut, she was on the bench as the Lionesses beat Spain 1-0 at Wembley Stadium.

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  Right time to leave

  Barry’s potential has been known for a long time. A part of United’s academy set-up from the age of 10, the forward enjoyed stand-out moments in the Red Devils’ youth teams, marking herself out as a top prospect that United fans wanted to see get more opportunities in the first-team.

  However, ankle injuries got in the way, hampering loan spells with Crystal Palace and Sunderland and meaning she made just two appearances for her childhood club before calling time on that chapter of her career in February.

  "It's always a hard one to leave a club that you've grown up at," Barry reflects. "It was never just football for me at United. I'd spent my whole childhood there and it's a massive thing for my family as well, being United fans, so it was never going to be an easy decision and it was always going to be a hard move, no matter where I went.

  "But it was the right time for me to go. I feel like I needed that challenge and that new experience."

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  Totally new challenge

  That would come at Bay FC in the San Jose area of California, where some familiar faces had just relocated. In early December, Emma Coates, head coach of England’s Under-23s, left her post to take charge of the NWSL side, taking assistant Gemma Davies with her. Within a few weeks, Anouk Denton, a regular in Coates’ U23 squads, had left West Ham to join Bay FC and then, two days later, Barry’s arrival was announced after a conversation with Coates in which the coach "didn’t really say a single thing that put me off".

  "Obviously, it's a massive change, it's a massive move away from my family, but everything was just a positive," Barry explains. "In fairness to my parents, they were both like, 'You need to go. It's too big an opportunity to say no to'.

  "It's kind of one of those chances in life that you don't always get. I couldn't say no. There was no point in me saying no because it was exactly what I wanted, from life and football.”

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  Settling in well

  What the 21-year-old has experienced since she arrived in San Jose has only served to justify her reasoning. Off the pitch, Barry describes the lifestyle as one which suits her "to a tee", be it because of her love of the nice weather or the ease at which she can sleep on a flight, making all the travelling that little bit easier.

  It’s not all been smooth sailing. Homesickness is to be expected from time to time, especially when the time difference makes it that bit trickier to speak to those back in England, and there have been some accent barriers. "Anouk speaks quite formal and no one can understand what I say compared to her," Barry laughs.

  Denton’s presence has helped Barry settle in that bit more, though, as has knowing the coaching staff well and, with that, the playing style.

  "I’ve always enjoyed working with Emma from a really young age," Barry says of Coates. "I think I've always played really good football under her and she's always put loads of belief in me, which I really like, especially as an attacking player.

  "You want to know that whatever you do is going to have support from the sideline. I think that's massive, especially coming back from two big injuries. I think that's all I could ask for, really."

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  Getting the call

  That has translated onto the pitch, with Barry marking her first Bay FC start with her first goal, darting in from the left to sweep the ball into the bottom corner after a timely pass from Italy star Cristiana Girelli. Three days later, she would be named to England’s U23s for the April international break, but when Freya Godfrey had to withdraw from the senior squad the following week, it was Barry that Wiegman turned to.

  "Sarina has done an amazing job at getting the young players in and around and involved," the 21-year-old says. "Even when we were on U23 camps, she would always be a familiar face. That's key for us young players, to know that gap isn't massive. I think it just makes us all want to strive for that call-up a lot more, knowing that it's in reach for us."

  There are several examples of this, including Denton and Godfrey, but also Jess Park, Aggie Beever-Jones, Laura Blindkilde Brown, Michelle Agyemang and Erica Parkinson. Barry joined the list when she linked up with the squad in April and was among the substitutes for the World Cup qualifying win over Spain at Wembley, even though her time on camp would be curtailed by an ankle knock.

  "That first week, getting a glimpse of what training is like, what the players are like, what their standards are like, it's a really good environment. I would say I learned massively just in that week," Barry believes. "It was really beneficial."

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  Timely break

  Now, her aim is to get back there. After a month out with injury, Barry made two appearances from the bench before the NWSL hit a mid-season break at the start of June. That proved to be quite a timely pause, allowing her to spend a few weeks in the gym rebuilding her fitness, and for the team as a whole, after winning just three of the first 11 games.

  "It's always hard trying to implement a whole new playing style to a group of players that have probably never played this way before," Barry says. “I think our last couple of games, we've just been borderline there. We've started to play some really good football and I think what Emma and Gemma are implementing daily, you can see the benefits are coming. Now it's just slowly working that into a game. I think give us some time and we'll be there.”

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  Welcome differences

  In a league renowned worldwide for its competitiveness, and the fact that anyone genuinely can beat anyone, that ground between Bay FC and the play-offs can be clawed back quickly, too. “I think that's something that definitely attracted both me and Anouk to the league, that anyone can beat anyone,” Barry concurs.

  Another attractive element of the NWSL to players in Europe has been the contrast in style, with England international Jess Carter, currently of champions Gotham, previously explaining that she felt that swapping the Women’s Super League for the U.S. allowed her to focus on her weaknesses, because of the differences in the leagues.

  "I definitely agree with that," Barry replies when asked about that. "The league itself is very transitional. There's no chill on the ball, everything is 100 miles per hour, go to goal. But I would say that kind of helps me, because I feel like the things that I needed to develop were when I was under pressure at high intensity, so I've really enjoyed getting that pressure and that challenge."

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  Opportunity knocks

  That contrast is allowing Barry to develop in a way that has already caught Wiegman’s eye, and she’s not the only promising England youngster making the switch across the pond. Denton is a team-mate at Bay FC, U20 international Princess Ademiluyi swapped West Ham for Gotham last year and Arsenal midfielder Laila Harbert is being heavily linked with a move to the San Diego Wave, after time on loan with the Portland Thorns last season.

  With the Arsenal pair of Vivienne Lia and Cecily Wellesley-Smith also currently out in Sweden on loan, questions have been raised about whether the WSL is giving young, homegrown players the opportunities it should. Indeed, among Europe's top five leagues and the NWSL, no division gave a lower percentage of minutes to homegrown players under the age of 23 in the 2025-26 season.

  Barry can’t speak to that too much. “My journey wasn't exactly as simple as, say, another young person," she says, noting that her two significant ankle injuries meant she "couldn’t possibly play" when trying to breakthrough at United.

  What she can speak to, though, is the opportunities in the NWSL. Among the game's top six leagues, it ranks highest for the average minutes given to teenagers and second for U23s, only behind Spain's Liga F.

  "It’s a great league," Barry says. "You have freedom to explode and be the type of player that you want to be."

  Barry has certainly done that in her first few weeks in the United States. Keep that up, and any further calls from Wiegman won’t be quite as surprising.