One of the Bury players left without a club following their expulsion from the English Football League is on the verge of signing for West Bromwich Albion.
Teenage defender Saul Shotton, who played for Albion in a reserve game last week, is set to sign a two-year deal with the the Championship club.
Shotton, 18, a free agent following the Shakers’ demise, joined Bury from home town club Stoke City in September 2017.
He made two EFL Trophy appearances two months before his 17th birthday.
Shotton then started the final four games of the 2017-18 season, but did not make a first-team appearance last term.
He automatically became a free agent when Bury were expelled from the league last month, when the players were told by the Professional Footballers Association that their contracts had ceased.
Bury’s 125-year membership of the Football League was ended on 28 August after owner Steve Dale’s summer-long attempt to sell the League One club failed.
The Shakers had already cancelled their first five league games and been thrown out of the EFL Cup, for non-fulfilment of a first-round fixture, before the league took the ultimate sanction, following several deadline extensions, when would-be owners C&N Sporting Risk withdrew their interest.
