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Former Everton manager David Moyes admits he’d like to give John Stones “a clip around the ear” because of the Blues defender’s habit of risk-taking and reckons reports of the player’s transfer fee are wrong.

Everton rejected an offer from Chelsea last summer that would have made Stones the most expensive defender in British football history but his ex-boss Moyes acknowledges for all the England international’s amazing talent, he has a tendency to indulge in over-playing at times.

The 21-year-old gestured to home fans at Goodison Park to “calm down” during the game against Tottenham Hotspur in January after they reacted nervously to him executing a ‘Cruyff turn’ in his own penalty area.

Moyes, speaking on Sky’s Goals on Sunday, said: “I think it’s right [when he’s been accused of over-playing]. I feel like giving him a clip around the ear and saying ‘you’re really good at this but make sure you do the fundamentals well. Your natural ability will let you show how good you are on the ball.

“He’s very comfortable coming out of defence with it but the art of defending is really important and you shouldn’t forget that.”

Precious Stones cheaper than you think

The Yorkshireman was Moyes’ final signing of his 11-year tenure at Everton when he joined from Barnsley in 2013 but the Scot insists that he only cost a fraction of the fee that is widely quoted.

He said: “I laugh when people say we paid £3million for John Stones, it was £1.25million. It was in the January and the last signing of the window.

“We were trying to bring a striker in that we needed but we didn’t have the money.

“I had a couple of scouts who said ‘you’ve got to watch this lad at Barnsley’ so I went to Barnsley and he was someone we thought could be a right-back or a centre-back but had a natural ability to be comfortable on the ball. It was not coached or taught.

“He’s got a great mentality and great temperament.”

Barkley needed time to develop

Stones never played in the Blues first team under Moyes but one youngster he gave a debut to at the age of 17 in 2011 was Ross Barkley and he is delighted with how the midfielder has blossomed under his successor Roberto Martinez.

He said: “Roberto has done a great job on developing him and bringing him on.

“I think Ross himself is maturing too. He was a boy and I think sometimes we build up boys too quickly when they’re too young and expect too much of them.

“Ross just needed time to develop and get games under his belt and find what his best role is.

“At the moment I think his best role is playing up by the front end, making passes and he’s got the ability to take people on.”

I hope Bill Kenwright stays

With Everton set for a £200million takeover from American investors, Moyes believes that his former chairman Bill Kenwright should be kept on at the club should new owners be put in place.

He said: “I’m sure Bill will [stay in some capacity] because sometimes you’ve got to be careful what you wish for.

“You look at the number of clubs who have been taken over in the Premier League and I just hope Everton get the right ones.

“Bill will make sure it gets passed on when it’s the right time. I hope Bill stays around because he’s done a great job.

“We never had great money. When I got the job Bill said ‘you only have £5million to spend a year’ and I said ‘fine – as long as you don’t sell my players and we can keep as much as we can.’

“He was great to me. I know he’s not been keeping so well at the moment so I wish him well and I hope he makes a recovery.”