OPINION
Leighton Baines has been a fantastic servant for Everton down the years.
The defender signed for the Toffees way back in 2007, and has spent the best part of that 12 year stint as one of the most impressive attacking full-backs in the English game.
67 assists and 38 assists is not a bad return at all for defender, and there are few left boots that have graced the Premier League with the same deftness and danger as his.
All good things have to come to an end though, and things have been less eye-catching for Baines in recent years.
This season he has made just the eight appearances in all competitions for the Blues, and at 34, you would assume that the only way is down.
That impression is backed up by the Daily Mail, who suggest that Baines is one of a host of players set to leave the club this summer.
Marco Silva is understood to be looking to enact something of a clear out at Goodison Park, and it is perhaps no surprise that Baines is listed as one of the players being readied for the chopping block.
The £70,000-a-week veteran [Spotrac] is an expensive outlay for a player who barely features, and freeing up that kind of funding could really help with the acquisition of new talent this summer.
You would think that Baines could still do a job for somebody, somewhere, but his days at the top level are surely over.
It’ll be a sad day when he does leave Goodison, but it’s a day that must be approaching fast.