OPINION
Everton left-back Leighton Baines should snub the new contract offer being offered to him by the club this summer.
It was announced by the club’s official website on Friday that the 34-year old has been offered a new one-year deal with the club, after it was also confirmed that central defender Ashley Williams will leave Goodison Park once his contract expires at the end of the month.
However, after an underwhelming 2018/19 season in the Premier League for the former England international, who featured just six times in the league, he should look to play his football elsewhere next season.
Baines has fallen completely out of favour at Goodison Park over the last few years, and for him to accept a new one-year deal with the Merseyside club would be a silly move, and could effectively be the nail in the coffin of his retirement.
If he isn’t still playing a decent amount of football next season, they there are not many clubs who will pick him up assuming he is wishing to continue playing football at a decent level.
The former England international, who has made 30 appearances for his country, is coming to the end of his playing career, so it may be smart to reject the new contract offer and play some more regular football elsewhere, even if this meant dropping down to the Championship.
There is next to no chance that Baines will be given any game time next season with Lucas Digne ahead of him in the pecking order, so the only reason for him to accept the contract would be if he was looking for that extra paycheck before retirement or if he was blindly loyal to the club.
But he needs to do what is best for him and that’s leave in order to feature regularly.