Everton’s hopes are building that first team defender Leighton Baines will pen a new deal next week after being offered a contract extension at Goodison Park, according to the Liverpool Echo.
The newspaper claim on their website that the Toffees are growing in belief that the veteran left back, who has fallen behind Lucas Digne in the pecking order, will commit to another 12 months on Merseyside, with manager Marco Silva said to be keen on keeping him as backup for the French star.
Baines is out of contract this summer, meaning he could leave for a free transfer at the end of the month.
Opinion
This could turn out to be a decent bit of business for Everton. It is quite clear that Digne is the long term first choice option for Silva and that Baines will have to settle for a backup role if he does choose to remain on Merseyside. However, were the Toffees to lose the England ace they would be forced to dip their hand into the transfer market to try and find a suitable experienced replacement, which could be difficult considering everyone knows Digne is set to remain in the starting XI. Keeping Baines for another year allows Everton to avoid splashing the cash on a new arrival and instead giving them the opportunity to invest their money elsewhere. Of course nothing is certain until Baines puts pen to paper and the longer he leaves it, the more anxious the club, including manager Marco Silva, will be. They obviously need to know if they need to be seeking out a new left back this summer and so the sooner this is sorted out, the better.