Hatters boss wants sides to stop 'messing about' over Stacey saga

The Hatters boss confirmed that a bid, widely reported as being from Championship side West Bromwich Albion, was received for the 22-year-old defender a week ago.

Stacey then missed both of Luton's final two pre-season matches, before the Baggies agreed a deal with Yeovil Town full back Tom James last week, only to pull out at the last moment.

Darren Moore's side, who were beaten 2-1 at home by Bolton Wanderers yesterday, are now tipped to resurrect their interest in Stacey, who played 45 times during his debut campaign at Kenilworth Road last term.

With the transfer window shutting at 5pm on Thursday, when asked for the latest news on Stacey, who was an unused substitute during Luton's 1-0 defeat at Portsmouth on the opening day with James Justin getting the nod, Jones said: "Well, if anyone's going to buy him, they'd better hurry up, as it's four days before the window shuts.

"At the minute, he's our player. There's a lot of speculation, he hasn't had the game time, JJ did, because we had to pull him from the game, then it was the natural choice of playing JJ instead of him.

"But I can't wait for the window to close to be honest with you and these big sides stop messing about. If anyone wants our players, then test us, if they don't, let's move on."