EVERTON HAVE CONFIRMED left-back Leighton Baines will remain at the club next season after signing a new one-year contract.

Baines will enter his 13th campaign at the club after the 34-year-old defender agreed to extend his stay at Goodison Park.

Former England international Baines, who joined from Wigan Athletic in 2007, started only five Premier League games last term.

However, despite being usurped by Lucas Digne following the left-back’s arrival from Barcelona, Baines was happy to stay.

“I do feel as proud as when I first signed,” he told Everton’s website. “As you get older, you realise the work you need to do to sustain the level required by the club.

And to be judged to be at that level in the later stages of your career is testament to the work you do. You take pride in it all.

“When you look at the back end of last season and how well we played and the results we picked up against some good teams it gives us plenty of optimism going into this season. We are confident about what we can do and striving to achieve success.”

Manager Marco Silva added: “It was vital for me to keep Leighton at Everton and I am very pleased to finalise his contract before we return for pre-season.

Leighton is part of the club’s fabric and a top-class professional. Most importantly, Leighton is still an exceptionally good footballer and features in our vision for what we want to achieve at Everton.”

Everton have signed Jonas Lossl ahead of the new campaign, while they are reportedly closing in on a permanent deal for Barcelona midfielder Andre Gomes after he impressed on loan in 2018-19.

But Nikola Vlasic will not be available to Silva as the winger has completed a move to Russian Premier League side CSKA Moscow.

Vlasic, who scored CSKA’s winning goal when they beat Real Madrid in the Champions League during his loan at the club last season, has signed a five-year contract.

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