Brentford have signed Everton attacker Conor McAleny on loan.

The 20-year-old forward has joined The Bees for the first half of the 2013/14 season and will stay at Griffin Park initially until January 6.

He follows in the footsteps of Jake Bidwell and Adam Forshaw, who had spells on loan at Brentford from Everton and have since signed permanently for the Club.

Brentford Manager Uwe Rösler said: “We have been working on getting Conor to Griffin Park for eight or nine months.

“We have watched him several times, [Sporting Director] Mark Warburton, [Chief Scout] Steve Watson and I have all seen him.

“We have a good relationship with Everton and have had good feedback on Conor both as a player and a person.

“Conor is a goal scorer.

“He is a player who can operate deeper if required and score from there and he can play in a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2.

“He is a very versatile forward and I think he will add goals to our squad.

“He is a good finisher and doesn’t need many chances to score.

“We are very happy to get a player we have known about for a long time and we expect him to have a very successful loan spell, like Jake Bidwell and Adam Forshaw.

“I am looking forward to working with him.”

Mark Warburton, Brentford FC Sporting Director, added: “Conor is an exciting young player.

“He is very highly regarded at Everton.

“We have been tracking him for several months.

“He is well known to Adam Forshaw and Jake Bidwell and, like them, came through the Academy ranks at Everton.

“We are very much looking forward to welcoming him to Griffin Park and hopefully playing a role in his on-going development.”

Conor, who will turn 21 in August, has been with Everton since he was 11 and was given a squad number for the 2009/10 season, which started when he was just 16.

He made his Everton debut in December 2011 and has made two Premier League appearances as a substitute.

He had a spell on loan at Scunthorpe United in March 2012, playing three games for The Iron.

Conor has been given permission by Everton to play in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and Capital One Cup.

Roberto Martinez, Everton Manager, said: "Conor has been doing really well in pre-season.

“He’s a boy that’s got a real talent and a real knack for scoring goals out of nothing and that’s something that in football is rare to have.

“For Conor, the next stage is to play some First Team football and we’ve got that opportunity to do it at Brentford, a setup that is very well run and manager that is going to allow Conor to develop.

“We are very happy to be able to allow Conor to go and play his football and to carry on his development in a very controlled environment and in a positive environment."

Conor spoke to Bees Player after completing the move – an interview will be available soon.