Is it time for Garbutt to step up and replace Baines?

For the past 8 years, Evertonians have seen Leighton Baines work wonders down the left-hand side  as well as treating us to some world-class goals with that sweet left foot. He has constantly been an indispensable player for us as we have developed as a team to earning a definitely deserved fifth place finish last season. However, after a disappointing season which at its worst saw us being beaten by teams such as Stoke and Newcastle, change may be needed. With all due respect to these clubs, our squad is much stronger than theres so something isn’t right when they are outplaying us. Luke Garbutt has made appearances to cover for Baines this season when he was unavailable and has impressed with his attacking ability. However, his contract is up in the summer and possibly one of the only ways to get his signature on the dotted line would be to promise more first-team action. At the age of 21, Garbutt has a bright future ahead of him so should we now give in to his demands and make him our starting left-back.

One of the best parts about Baines’ game has been his dead ball ability which has seen him score on numerous occasions from free kicks and the spot. He boasted a 100% record from the spot until October of this season when he saw his effort saved by David De Gea and since then he hasn’t stepped up for the Blues. Although he is still our best penalty taker in the eyes of many supporters, he has struggled to get a hold of the ball when we have had penalties with Kevin Mirallas not allowing him to take one against West Brom before missing the penalty himself. His set-pieces really are one of his most eye-catching talents so I feel he needs to be asserting more authority and stepping up again to take these penalties and free-kicks otherwise he really has lost a dimension of his game.

Despite being less influential as in previous seasons, Baines has still contributed 9 assists to the team ranking him joint 4th in the league for assists as well as having 3 more assists than any other defender in the league. He also ranks highly in the Europa League for assists with 4 to his name which could have been more if he didn’t miss a lot of the knockout games through injury.

When Luke Garbutt has appeared for Everton in the Europa League, he has look composed on the ball and has delivered some fantastic crosses and corners which have caused danger for opposition. When watching him, you can really see the similarities between the pair. He got his first assist for the club in the 3-1 victory at home to Young Boys and in that game in particular, he really drove forward with the ball well creating opportunities for Lukaku and the other attacking players.

An idea that Martinez has talked about in the past is the possible switch from full-back to a holding midfielder for Baines, something that has worked for Bayern captain Phillip Lahm who successfully made the transition under Pep Guardiola. Perhaps this would be something worth trying in these last few games of the season although I’d guess we won’t see it due to Martinez’s reluctancy to change his tactics.

It’d be too much of a loss to see someone of his potential leave the club on a free and ideally, I’d like to see him sign a contract and go out on loan to gain some vital experience in the top-flight with one of the lower clubs before returning for the 2016/17 season as a starter. The chances of that are very slim though so I think we may have to give in to his demands and promote him to our 1st choice left back. There is no doubt that if he lives up to his potential, he could replace Baines in the England set up in a few years.