Maidstone United midfielder Dan Sweeney has made a surprise move to Barnet - joining the League 2 club for an undisclosed fee.

Stones boss Jay Saunders took a call from Bees chairman Tony Kleanthous on Thursday morning and the deal, which includes a sell-on clause, was done by the end of the day.

Sweeney, 22, links straight up with his new club although he can’t play for them until January.

Saunders said: “It came out of the blue. Barnet’s chairman rung me yesterday morning - I’d had a missed call from him the day before and couldn’t get hold of him - and he just said we’d like to make an offer for Dan and it went from there.

“By halfway through training it was all agreed. It happened quite quickly.

“He can’t play till January but I think they were keen to get him in straight away to get him training and up to speed. I’m pleased for him.

“I’m disappointed to lose him because he’s a player I like and in an ideal world you don’t lose players like that. At the same time you can’t stand in people’s way.”

Saunders broke the good news to Sweeney when he turned up for training.

The Stones boss added: “I think he was surprised. I pulled him at the start of training last night, said we were speaking to Barnet and there might be something for him. He was a bit shocked.

“Normally you hear rumours and this and that but this was out of the blue.

“They’ve got joint caretaker bosses, they’d done their homework on him, scouted him a few times.

“Paul Fairclough, the England C manager, is still heavily involved at Barnet too and they asked his opinion.”

Saunders believes Barnet - 10th in League 2 - is the right move for Sweeney and feels the midfielder, who scored the winning penalty in the National South play-off final last season, can go even further.

He said: “I’ve always been quite a fan of his. That’s why I brought him here.

“I’ve always felt he could go back to the Football League because you’ve got to remember he was there as a youngster with AFC Wimbledon.

“I just think he’s got everything to go on and be a very good player.

“Personally I think he needs to be training every day, rather than the two nights a week we get, but I think he’s got all the attributes.

“He’s a good size, got good feet, good pace and he’s technically good.

“He needs to improve in some areas - he can more aggressive heading the ball and in the tackle and he needs to be more consistent - but that’ll come.

“Training every day is going to be a massive advantage. He’ll get fitter and stronger.

“It’s a good move because it’s not miles away and I don’t think he’s jumping up too soon.

“You see some players go to Championship clubs and they don’t kick a ball for two or three years but, realistically, if he does well he’s got a chance of playing first-team football straight away.

“He’s gone from playing Ryman Prem football a year ago to starting every week in Conference National. That’s not easy.

“Barnet have obviously seen him and some of his performances have been very good.

“If he shows that on a regular basis I can see him going on, and that’s part of it because we have a sell-on clause.”

Maidstone are in talks with two players and are aiming to complete one, if not both deals, before the Boxing Day game at Dover.