Everton after Matty Foulds, 'next' John Stones

Matty Foulds has a lot of attention on him right now. Bury have had several bids come in for the highly-rated defender after his appearance in the Capital One Cup tie against Leicester City. He has not played since for the League One side as team decide what to do with the player. Ironically, Bury's manager is David Flitcroft, who was in charge at Barnsley when Everton bought a certain John Stones off him.

Flitcroft had then likened the Shakers starlet Foulds to Stones:

"I'd compare him to John Stones in his young days. He's only 17 but plays with no fear. He plays with an attitude and plays every game as though it's his last. He's been with the first team for eight or nine months, training at that intensity. He got schooled the other week by Leon Clarke but it was one of the best days of training he's had.

"I said to him that this is where you want to be, not playing for the A team. You want to be playing against people like Tom Pope, Leon Clarke, Ryan Lowe - they'll test you. He's had that now for quite a few months and he's just been getting better and better. He makes his passes and is brave in everything he does, and I love that.

"His position is left-side centre-half but I had no fear about putting him on (against Leicester) at left-back and I thought he was fantastic. I thought it was a good opportunity to blood him."

Flitcroft revealed yesterday that the League One club have received a bid for Foulds. With the player out of the matchday squads recently, it appears Bury are close to reaching an agreement with an unnamed team. Premier League teams cannot loan players again until January, so it would be possible the player is the youngster looks destined for the Championship.

He confirmed the proposed deal was a loan move leading to a permanent switch in January.

"I'm protecting Matty. We've got some very good bids in for him, it's been bubbling along for a week now. Some fantastic clubs want his services so I've got to look after that and the organisation. I didn't want the game possibly upsetting that so we took a business decision not to play Matty."

"It makes it worthwhile when you see someone come through and progress to possibly the club he's going to. When the deal is right for all three parties then sometimes they have got to move on to pastures new. He's been fantastic while we have had him.

"He's been a credit to the club and he's a player I hold in great esteem."

Additional reports say that Everton, Aston Villa and Derby County are all in the mix for the player's signature, but we'll know soon enough what the Shakers have decided.