Bury boss David Flitcroft is full of praise for Everton defender John Stones.

Flitcroft was assistant at Barnsley when Stones, now 21, was coming up through the youth academy before his move to Everton in 2013.

He told the Daily Star Sunday: “John was always good technically and it was his physical side we wanted to develop.

“We finished training one day and took him over to Old Trafford for a European night.

“We were always thinking of taking him to those kinds of games to watch Nemanja Vidic or Rio Ferdinand, or any of those top-class defenders.

“It was so he could see how they approached it. Then we would give him videos to watch and he would study how they played.

“I read now that people compare him to John Terry or Rio.

“He can be a bit of both. He is an out-and-out defender like Terry but also plays with the grace of Rio.

“Ultimately, people will talk of him in his own right as John Stones. He is different to anything else out there."