David Moyes made to look very foolish by Barnsley over claims he paid buttons for John Stones

David Moyes can rule himself out of ever managing Barnsley anyway.

The former Everton and Manchester United boss has been popping up more and more on our TV screens recently, and of course that means he opens his mouth more often too. Since being sacked by Real Sociedad the Scot has been trying to get back into football. However he just keeps sticking his foot in his mouth, and his latest comments about John Stones have earned a stinging rebuke from Barnsley this afternoon. Moyes of course is the man who brought the Everton centre-half to Merseyside, and had claimed recently that instead of the £3 million that everyone assumes that they paid for the then teenager, the Toffees only paid a paltry £1.25million.

“I laugh when people say we paid £3million for John Stones, it was £1.25million.”

That is of course mere buttons for a player who is now rated at around £40million and is coveted by Chelsea among many others in the Premier League and, if you believe the hype, across Europe. Moyes made the comments on the Sky Goals on Sunday show, but the League One side have issued a statement to confirm today that Moyes’s comments are wide of the mark. They’ve also hit out at his blabbermouth concerning his former club.

“Ordinarily, we would not comment on matters of speculation, but the article on the Mirror website carries the headline, “David Moyes reveals Everton paid just £1.25million to sign John Stones from Barnsley". “The amount paid by Everton to Barnsley is Commercial in Confidence, and we would have expected that David Moyes would be bound by that obligation of confidentiality to his former employer. “However, given the categoric nature of the assertion made, it is incumbent on Barnsley FC to correct such a statement when it is markedly and unequivocally wrong and yet is made by someone that the public might think is authoritative on the subject.”

The final line is the real clinker as it hints that Moyes' ignorance probably comes from the fact that he had nothing to do with the transfer in the first place.

"David Moyes played no part in any negotiation with Barnsley FC concerning the transfer of John Stones, which may explain why he is mistaken as to the fee paid."