The Leighton Baines saga

Leighton Baines

Till now, Everton’s attitude on Leighton Baines has been that it would take an arm and a leg for Manchester United to prise him away. Which makes it highly unlikely that a deal on the England Left Back can be reached until deadline day, when last-minute flutters might force managers to cough up that extra couple of million quid needed to seal decisions.

However,Everton’s less-than-stellar performance against Cardiff City suggests that Baines could well try to force his way out of Goodison Park a day sooner, were United to submit an improved bid.

Baines isn’t the sole subject of the bid, which complicates matters. His Belgian teammate, midfielder Marouane Fellaini, has long been a United target. Like everyone else at Everton, Baines and Fellaini were signed by David Moyes during his time there. Moyes, naturally, wants to bring his old boys over to Manchester, and it’s fair to say that both are tempted by the bid.

But it is hardly surprising that Everton are holding out on the sales: Roberto Martinez will not want to start his tenure on a weak footing by losing two of his best players this late, with the transfer window closing on Tuesday and offering little time to acquire replacements. By one estimate, United have submitted 4 bids for Baines this summer. The latest, a 38 million-pound joint bid with Fellaini, has been discarded by Everton as a pittance, implying that both could well stay on.

Unlike the moody Fellaini, however, Baines isn’t likely to change his attitude if Everton decide to retain his services. The 29-year old has earned praise from all quarters for his professionally-correct response to the interest from United: he has continued to report for training sessions and give his all on the field during Everton’s matches. He has also stayed free of the strange illnesses that afflict all want-away players in July-August (Bale’s knee, Rooney’s ankle, you get the picture. If you still don’t, read this excellent expose by Robbie Savage.

And unlike several other players up for grabs, he has not been offering himself up for the highest bidder like a piece of meat on hooks. He has kept his head down, avoided giving interviews, avoided blaming the British media and not accused his manager of a breach of trust.

All these boxes were ticked by Luis Suarez alone, and while Wayne Rooney and Gareth Bale have not gone that far, they have signaled their unhappiness at the status quo repeatedly. It may seem a quantum leap to bracket Baines with these stars – but remember, he is the best player available for his position at the moment; probably even better on current form than Ashley Cole.

At the same time, a new left-back is hardly an immediate requirement for United. Patrice Evra may be 32 but shows no signs of burning out any time soon. His understudies, Fabio da Silva and Alex Buttner, are both in their early 20s and reasonably experienced. Many United fans are bemused by the effort to land Baines: might not the 18 million pounds he could cost them be better spent elsewhere?

What Baines wants

While Baines has let the management know that he will not press for a transfer, he has made no secret of his wish to move. Without publicly coercing the Blues brass, he’s reportedly pleading behind the scenes for a transfer to United. One can see where he’s coming from. He has spent the better part of his career at a mid-table side, and with the big opportunity of his life turning up at 29, he does not want to let it go. Part of that desire perhaps comes from a realisation that under Roberto Martinez, Everton are unlikely to achieve anything substantial.

Baines wants to play in the Champions League and win a title or two. Neither objective is realistically possible at Everton in the near future. Martinez is not a reach-for-the-sky manager; he specialises in spectacularly digging his side out of holes, ignoring questions on how they got in there in the first place. At Wigan, Martinez inherited a mid-table side with a supportive owner; he proceeded to drag them into the relegation quagmire, where they spent the better part of three seasons.

Beating Liverpool, United and Arsenal in quick succession – a Champions League-level feat – in March 2012 showed that his team had high potential that was going untapped. Lessons weren’t learnt the next season, but his FA Cup win and the Houdini act of 2011-12 seem to have papered over all that.

Will he get it?

Baines’ options now are simple: he can submit a transfer request, which he will be loath to do, or he can hope that Moyes will up his game and submit an improved bid. This is still tricky – few clubs sell close to deadline day without a backup.

When that happens, the result is a panic buy like Andy Carroll to Liverpool. And that’s not going to happen here. Everton chairman Bill Kenwright is a seasoned hand, who will want a replacement lined up and the finances taken care of before Baines is sold.

Whichever way it goes, the most low-key of the EPL‘s many transfer epics this summer may well be about to climax in a day or two.