Garbutt to commit his future to Everton

Just passing on what I have heard.

As with all things Everton, IÂ’ll wait for to see the badge kissing and other non genuine displays of affection in the papers before I get carried away.

IÂ’d sooner have him here than sold to develop at another club, albeit in 2016-17 season when we get the benefits. All good news so far.

Hopefully heÂ’ll go to a club like Bournemouth and get games and kick on ready to come back to us and seriously fight for his place.

If he keeps young Garbutt at the club, thatÂ’s excellent news and I think he deserves credit if it happens.

Garbutt will maybe benefit from a short loan period this coming season to gain more experience and more physical power and mental strength.

Loaning him, Browning and Galloway can only help develop the lads into harder men and we can reap the rewards.

In three years, Garbutt who be 24, approaching 25 so he should be the main figurehead at left back by then but, if Baines hits poor form or suffers injuries in the near future, then IÂ’d have no qualms or hesitation about putting Garbutt in.

Without doubt he will slot in nicely as a replacement for Baines who I think may be getting past his best on the defensive side of things.

Deulofeu, Lennon + a decent striker + replacement for Distin... thatÂ’s just the minimum requirement...

COYB.

Bit weird that this is the 2nd time heÂ’s after leaving his contract run down. Is he always looking to see if better options are out there?

I think heÂ’s a quality player and delighted that he looks like staying but IÂ’ve got reservations on his full commitment to us..

- Several correct calls on our transfer dealings before they were common knowledge.
- Unwavering support for Roberto Martinez when everyone else (including me) was calling for his head);

Has anyone actually ever seen Colin and Blue Bill in the same room at the same time???

1) When is Martinez get sacked?
2) Who will replace him?
3) What are SaturdayÂ’s lottery numbers?

Which to be fair seems to be building on some pretty good work in previous windows (Lukaku + Barry x2, McCarthy, Deulofeu, Lennon, Robles, Galloway, etc). Okay, so Eto'o, Atsu, McGeady, Kone and Alcaraz may not have worked out, but I don't think any were totally terrible moves in principle and aside from Kone they did contribute in patches.

Of course there's still people who are determined to put the worst possible spin on every bit of activity or news ("We're not ambitious enough", "wasted all our money with a record purchase of one player", "not hard working enough", "not skilful enough", etc), but I for one am feeling a little more positive about our fortunes in the season ahead.

Whatever happened to the great idea of Baines-as-phenomenal-Philip-Lahm-type-player? If that happened, there'd be room for Garbutt in the starting 11, so he wouldn't need to go out on loan.

And anyway, I thought Baines was looking decidedly jaded towards the end of last season; maybe he'll come back from the break refreshed again, but if he starts the season on poor form...?

Maybe it's because we expect so much from Baines as his level of performance dropped last season, but he's still way ahead of Garbutt in my opinion and we could do with the fans laying off the lad a bit too.

To be honest I disagree with the above comment.

There has been no bigger fan of Leighton Baines than me; between the years of 2009 and 2013 we witnessed the best left back on England without a shadow of a doubt.

However, over the last 18 months, Baines has considerably lost some of the powers that made him that unplayable full back. It’s not been the Leighton Baines I knew and loved, certainly in the two seasons Martinez has been here it’s not been.

I understand he’s had injury problems but I believe it goes further than this. I believe that Baines loses something to his own game when Pienaar is not in front of him.

What’s apparent is Baines has not been very good the last two seasons on what he was always great at, scoring free-kicks, getting up the flank and whipping endless crosses in that resulted in chances. Somebody turned to me at the match against Sunderland and questioned "When did Baines last even beat the wall with a free-kick?" and it kind of made me question it to.

It hurts me to accept but I think we have seen Baines’s best years gone by.

Having said that, Both Coleman and Baines have declined in their effectiveness this season especially. I'm not sure this can just be attributed to Baines's star being on the wane, as it's happening to Seamus too and he should be at the peak of his powers. Part of it may be that opposition teams now set up to nullify their attacking threat.

You're right to ask "When did Baines last beat the wall with a free kick?", but we should also ask, "When did Coleman last skin a player on the outside?" He was doing this for fun season before last, and I can't remember him doing it recently.

Something in the way we set up in this last season was fundamentally flawed when it came to using the fullbacks as width in an attacking sense. I don't know if this was Roberto being a moron as some believe, or if we were found out as others believe, or if it's players' form declining. What I do know is we need to sort it out!

I would rather he didn't go out on loan as even a fit Baines could be rested at times, and there are the two cup competitions. We need two good players for every position, and although Galloway did well, he is more of a centre-back. Oviedo may also be struggling, I haven't heard anything of his progress. He of course could be accommodated further forward.

Any loan move for Garbutt will presumably be decided when the fitness of the other two left-backs is guaranteed.

A lot is often made of the amount of headers we concede and rightly so but how often do our fullbacks ever stop the crosses coming over?

Garbutt has an awful lot to learn defensively, that's very true... but, even at his roaming-the-flank best, I am not sure Baines was ever widely acknowledged as a truly great defender.

Moyes & his coaching staff turned Coleman, Jags, Lescott & Baines into international defenders. If he was managing us now I would have a lot of faith that, as with Coleman, they worked on the defensive weaknesses in his game and develop him.

Martinez and his staff seem to emphasise different aspects of the game. Defensively both Baines & Coleman have gone backwards.

There is a lack of emphasis on the basics and the dirty work. And inability to defend the box on crosses was a consistent trait this season. Rule number one is stop the cross and Baines could have done more on numerous occasions. I can think of a few occasions where Seamus made basic errors.

They have both not looked the players we know. Both also didn't look like they were enjoying their football. So we will see if Martinez & his staff are the right men to bring him & other young players, especially defenders, on.

Finally, we were offered roughly 㾻 million for Baines, a 29-year-old who we then gave a 4-year deal. He was not going to improve and, if we had sold him, it would have been knowing we'd had his best years.

At what stage do you think we should be taking these deals? It should all be on a player-by-player basis, but I'm of the opinion that the way we do things and we are generally tight with the finances, if there's a hungry young footballer there and 㾻 million is on offer, you take it.

Baines, and other senior pros, have been coasting at times. 30 and sat on a fat deal. Forget the wailing and hysteria about selling. 㾻 million for a 29-year-old left back? Take it. All day.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Baines performance dipped last season, because Pinnie was missing for most of it. It seemed to me that Baines missed the almost instinctive one twos he could work with Steven. Yep, whe wasn’t as good this season past but no player does it all on his own, and then for the latter part of the season, the free kicks stopped and he lert others take the penalties...was he not carrying an ankle injury.

As for Luke taking over from him, I don’t think so...certainly not yet. He looks a great prospect and a year on loan will hopefully make him an all round top player. It would be tremendous news if Oviedo is on his way to full fitness as he can cover for Bainsey or Pienaar. And Steven himself is over that knee injury. So hopefully, we’ll see Bainsey more like his old self.

If Luke does sign then it is looking a good transfer window already and hopefully more to come...a schemer would do nicely!

What I like is the potential young but good defence group that is emerging with Garbutt, Galloway, Browning and Stones plus Coleman isn't past it either. Browning looks strong and, just maybe, could pair up with Stones as the central defensive pairing once Jags is ebbing???

Add the younger emerging midfielders and Del Boy with Rom and we're looking at the makings of a pretty damn good team – methinks!

Baines is only 30 and will get over these injuries. How can anyone suggest that Garbutt should displace him? Garbutt has potential and talent, but Baines is England’s Number One left back. Let’s also remember the loyalty that Baines has shown.

Getting 7 assists halfway through the season! Without injuries and the team’s terrible form it would have been double. He is also a better defender than Garbutt with bags of experience.

Great news if Garbutt signs. But he isn’t fit to displace Baines yet. Why people are so quick to write Baines off is beyond me. He’s 30 not 33!!

The trouble is, nobody is going to be offering anything like 㾻 million for a left back who approaches 31 in the New Year.

I agree Baines has been one of the best, probably the best left back in the Premier League between 2010 and 2013 when his form on a weekly basis was sound and genuinely phenomenal (sorry).

I personally thought Baines's dip in form came just before Moyes left, maybe mid-2012-13, he was still performing well just not quite as good.

When you mention Baines, people instantly reel off what he was or is, a fullback with a sweet left foot, dead-ball specialist. The trouble is he hasn't been a dead-ball specialist now for two years since he stuck away two Sheedy-like free-kicks at West Ham.

The left foot was one of the main reasons Baines has been so widely acclaimed, and correctly so, but there's no getting away from the fact that the dynamic of his game has disappeared over the last 18 months or so.

Defensively he's been okay but never been a great defender, so many times he was bailed out by the athleticism of Distin playing on his left side.

He struggled this season, as everyone in the team struggled, and I'm with Phil re the common denominator. He also had no consistent midfielder playing in front of him. Naismith, Barkley, Eto'o?, Pienaar, Osman and Mirallas were all shoved or drifted to the left side of the midfield at points.

We need to invest in a left sided midfielder to give stability to the team and squad, because Baines and Coleman will suffer if they cannot work up a defensive (and attacking) relationship with the person in front of them. We may have had stability in the back seven, but we had little to none in the three behind the striker. That was the product of under performance, but also the product of Martinez's failure to find a consistent strategy and the failure of Eto'o and Atsu.

We should look to concentrate our funds on a left-sided playmaker in my opinion, and concentrate on finding a consistent attacking unit. We should also move back to the mixed passing strategy which worked so well in the season before. The whole team will perform more effectively if they are playing with a strategy which suits them.

I'm happy about Garbutt. He is a decent attacking left back. But I'm not doing cartwheels over this one. He has not demonstrated the potential some have referenced on here. He could become a very good left back, but personally I would prefer both Oviedo and Baines at present and do not see him making a mark on this first team for two seasons at least. I'm glad he will be staying at the club though, and going out on loan will help him develop.

Garbutt is a very good prospect in my opinion and may well take over from Baines in time but he's not good enough to displace a fit Baines just yet. But I'd certainly consider Garbutt as a left-sided player to do Pienaar's role if he's not fit. Galloway is also a good prospect but not as a full back.

I just hope Roberto mans up, nominates the penalty taker and this season, and we avoid the penalty balls up of last season.

Remember, with Baines and Oviedo both out, it was Galloway who got the call... and for my money he looked more worth the call than Garbutt. He's younger, faster and I'd say he has bags more talent.

Yes, we all hope and expect Garbutt will develop as Coleman did... but I can't be the only one who thinks his impact on the field is still quite a ways off.

Garbutt was star man in the win at Wolfsburg in November, and I'd say he's far quicker and more nimble-footed than Galloway,

It's not me who's saying he's the better choice... it's Roberto. When he had the choice, he chose Galloway, which made Garbutt fourth choice at the position, at least on that day. We can speculate as to the reasons, but that's the fact.

I haven't seen enough of either one to point to Baines's eventual successor (some here have speculated that Galloway's future is in the center), but I'll admit that nothing I saw from Garbutt since the Wolfsburg game quickened my pulse much.

As I said, I'm happy he's staying and I look forward to his development. But I'm not having much trouble controlling my excitement.

There were a lot of reasons last season went sour, but in my opinion Baines's injury-related loss of form was the single biggest reason of all.

Galloway was played to give him some deserved time.

Garbutt is a much better LB and our future at the position, much the same as Galloway is our future at CB.

Garbutt in that one snapshot may have been our "fourth choice" LB, but surely you see him as the future at that position and not Galloway?

Great signing. The future is looking brighter. Well done Roberto!

It's the same with Stones. Bids of over 㿀m (which will increase) already been mentioned for him and we only paid ١m.

Of course I would rather we kept them both but at least if they did want out or we wanted to sell then we would make a huge profit on them! Sound economics.

Lots of talented youngsters going nowhere at other clubs and our record is pretty good at bringing them through to Premier League levels. Albeit needs must as we have limited cash to splash.

Mike, I think you'll find the reason that Galloway got the nod was because Garbutt was, to all intense and purpose, leaving the club at the end of his contract. Galloway is no doubt a good prospect, just as Garbutt is, but he's not a full back. We need them both for the future.

As for Garbutt... I look forward to being convinced that he's the future of anything. Not saying it won't happen... remember, as recently as February 2013 Coleman was the third or fourth choice at right back. So as I said, I'm very pleased Garbutt has made a long-term commitment to the club. But I'm not anointing him as our future LB just yet.

And whatever the reason, I enjoyed getting a first look at Galloway.

Me too. Quietly impressed.

Hopefully I might get some more inside news early on again!!

When was the last time Baines beat the first man you say? As has been posted by someone else when was the last time he took one? Lukaku has been taking everything and I’m sure if there was a chance to score from a throw in he would be stealing them too and I wouldn’t mind he’s not very good at free kicks whereas one for Baines is bordering on a penalty if it’s in the right position.

There are a few things I would say joined up for his poor form even though it was still better than most, obviously the lad is not the strongest character given how it appears he’s been pushed aside on penalties and free kicks, it’s similar with England too and he needs to grow a pair and no doubt that World Cup debacle effected him, it certainly affected our captain too, given the fact they were solely the blame for it all according to the southern press.

Add the loss of Pienaar and our manager pissing around with tactics etc so I would say there were lots of factors that hopefully have been sorted out now and the lad will come back fighting.

As I’ve said I’m made up Garbutt hopefully stays but you’d think he was the next Roberto Carlos the clambering for the lad I’ve seen on Twitter etc and I hope that doesn’t go to his head otherwise he’s in for a big shock if he fails with the Goodison public, they ignored him getting laced by Sunderland, Newcastle and Krasnodar wide players because he whips a good corner in but that will soon wear off if he doesn’t produce, as for Baines I’m sure he reads these sites and will be out to prove a few people wrong hopefully.

I was talking about the United situation a couple of years back.

I know nobody offers 㾻 million for a 31-year-old full-back. But we were offered 㾻 million for a 29-year-old Baines. A deal we should have taken.

Garbutt was nowhere near to being ready at that time. Oviedo is good but not at BainesÂ’s level. If we are pushing on to build a top 4 team, then we shouldnÂ’t sell our best players.

It says something to me when some posters are decrying Baines's Â’demiseÂ’ and loss of form in a season he still provided the most assists of anyone in our team, or for that matter any other defender in the Premier League. ThatÂ’s for four straight seasons in a row by the way.

IÂ’m sure he would be the first to admit he wasnÂ’t at the level of previous seasons but the guy doesnÂ’t play in isolation, thereÂ’s ten others out there playing with him.

Not taking 㾻M two years ago was the right decision. He will play at least another three seasons for us and you wonÂ’t find that quality for 㾻M.

Do you want a badge?

Not only have Mirallas and Barkley been after the free-kicks, but also Lukaku (desperate to up his stats), not to mention the penalties. Perhaps Baines was in too much pain to want to take them?

When he is fully fit, it will be interesting to see whether he resumes his dead-ball duties, and if he starts bombing down the wing again.

http://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/586253/Everton-Luke-Garbett-Bournemouth-season-long-loan

IÂ’ll email theTW guys to see if theyÂ’re aware of it. ItÂ’s intermittent which is weird.