page_title: Leighton Baines
section_title: Everton
hierarchical_section_title: Leighton Baines / Club career / Everton
caption_attribution_description: Leighton Baines going to take a corner at Emirates, Quite like him, although never get into our team.
context_page_description: Leighton John Baines is an English former professional footballer who played as a left back.
  Baines started his career with Wigan Athletic, and was part of the team that won the Second Division in the 2002–03 season and was a runner-up in the 2004–05 Championship and the 2006 League Cup Final. He joined Everton in 2007, helping them reach the 2009 FA Cup Final. He played for England at under-21 and senior levels. Baines was included in the England squads at UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He announced his retirement from football on 26 July 2020.
context_section_description: In July 2007, Baines rejected a move to Sunderland, after their bid of a reported £6 million was accepted by Wigan. In the following month he signed for Everton for an initial fee of £5 million, with another £1 million in add-ons, dependent on Baines's appearances for Everton.
  Baines did not play regularly in his first season, making just 29 appearances in all competitions, due to an injury and the good form of Phil Jagielka and Joseph Yobo at centre back which kept Joleon Lescott at left back. His second season at Everton saw an increase in Baines's playing time. Due to an injury to Yobo, Lescott moved to the centre of defence and Baines played at left back. He was voted Player of the Month at Everton two months in a row in the 2008–09 season. Baines scored his first ever Everton goal against Portsmouth on 21 March, at Fratton Park, after 57 matches (in all competitions) without scoring. On 30 August 2009, he scored a last minute penalty in a 2–1 win over his former team Wigan. A month later, he captained Everton for the first time in a UEFA Europa League match against AEK Athens.
  In the 2010–11 season, Baines played every minute of Everton's Premier League matches, as well as scoring seven goals in all competitions. His contribution was rewarded with the club's Player of the Season, Players' Player of the Season, and Goal of the Season awards. His goal against Chelsea, scored from direct free kick, was voted Everton Goal of the Season. He also contributed 11 assists throughout the season, 5th overall in the league, and was the league's highest assisting defender.
  Baines scored five times during 2011–12, four of which were penalties. He reached 99 consecutive league matches before ending his season early due to injury. His performance at left back was deemed impressive enough to be named in the PFA's Premier League Team of the Year in 2012, the first Everton player to do so for 22 years since Neville Southall in 1989–90.
  During the 2012–13 season, Baines created 116 chances for his teammates, more than any other player in Europe's top five leagues. When 2013's PFA Premier League Team of the Year was announced, Baines was again included, and he also won Everton's Player of the Season and Players' Player of the Season awards. Baines was the only outfield player to have played in every minute of every Premier League match during the season. He was the subject of multiple bids during the 2013 summer transfer window from Manchester United but all were rejected by Everton.
  Baines scored two free-kicks either side of goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen from the same position as Everton beat West Ham United 3–2 in September. He was only the fifth player since 2006–07 to score two direct free-kicks in one Premier League match (after Rooney, Ronaldo, Drogba and Larsson). Baines suffered a toe injury in November which saw him miss a top flight fixture for the first time in 52 matches. On 27 January 2014, Baines signed a four-year deal to extend his contract at Everton. He scored three penalties during the season to take his career tally to 13, becoming the first player in Premier League history to have taken more than 10 and never missed one. The 13th came on his 300th appearance in the competition in a 2–0 win over Manchester United. Baines scored five goals and assisted four others during 2013–14, the most of any defender in the league.
  He scored his first ever goal in European football for Everton on 18 September 2014, netting from the penalty spot in a 4–1 win over Wolfsburg in the first match of their UEFA Europa League campaign. On 5 October 2014, his penalty against Manchester United was saved by David de Gea. This was the first time he did not score from a penalty in the Premier League. In January 2015, Baines made his 45th assist in the Premier League to overtake Graeme Le Saux as the defender with the most in the division's history. Baines missed the beginning of 2015–16 after injuring his ankle in training just before the Premier League started. Baines became the third defender to score 30 Premier League goals after John Terr
caption: Baines playing for Everton in 2011
exif: {"Image Make": "Panasonic", "Image Model": "DMC-TZ7", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.0", "Image DateTime": "2011:02:01 21:03:13", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "634", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 14, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D2": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Image Tag 0xC6D3": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "10740", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5808", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/80", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2011:02:01 21:03:13", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2011:02:01 21:03:13", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "86/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "321/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3648", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2736", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "10340", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "196", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "High gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}